I remember my first reaction when visiting Southwest Austin. I was totally shocked, and I had no idea this side of Austin existed. Tucked into the rolling hills of the Austin countryside is an incredibly wide selection of high-end modern apartments. Many have been built in the last decade, and easily compete with the best properties in East, South, and Downtown Austin in terms of quality, yet at much lower costs.
As for the lifestyle, Southwest Austin affords a unique blend unlike anything else in the city. A quiet countryside “Texan” experience, but with the modern amenities of a Downtown Austin life. Despite feeling far, Southwest Austin is a quick 15-20 minute drive from South Austin and Downtown, keeping you anchored to a sense of city-normalcy, yet affording you a quiet country existence.
If you are working in one of the many corporate offices around here, or even in West or South Austin, this area would be a shame to miss out on.
This guide will focus primarily on modern apartment complexes built in the last 15 years. They either fall into the high-end luxury category or the medium-range modern category.
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Compared to other areas with modern apartments, Southwest Austin is a great value for the quality you’re getting. The competition has exploded in the last 10 years giving you a ton of high-quality options to choose from.
I like The Santal’s minimalist Texan-luxury vibe. It’s one of the best modern complexes in the area in my opinion. Like many of the properties in this region, Santal is secluded away in the Hill Country, removed from anything noisy. However, they do seem to have some issues on the management side, which could be a cause for mild concern. Overall, if you’re looking for a higher-end property in the Hill Country, I would absolutely check this out.
Palo Verde is a strong new entrant in the apartment market. I can’t think of anything bad about them. Management seems on point. The amenities are fantastic. The pool is awesome. Even a big dog park on-site. For as long as management quality stays high, Palo Verde will be one of the top options in this area.
Windsor always comes out swinging when it comes to luxury. The floor plans are nice and spacious. The amenities are great. There’s plenty of space for dogs and various activities. However, Windsor doesn’t do much to give you a sense of place. This building could be anywhere in Austin. It has a generic luxury hotel feel, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but nothing about this place screams “Hill Country”.
It’s very easy to confuse both Windsor Lantana and Windsor Oak hill. Both are high-end luxury options with high end corporate looking amenities. It’s still very nice, but you won’t get much of a local feel living here.
Pearl, unlike some of the others on this list, does a better job at creating a distinct hill country sense of place. It’s a notch down in terms of luxury, at least compared to the as super-high-end Windsors on this list, but it’s still a solid option.
I really liked Ocotillo the first time I went there. It has a distinct Hill Country vibe, good prices, and good floor plans. As competition has stepped up, it isn’t the gem it used to be. It seems like they had a terrible phase of management when Price Realty took over, but it seems they have changed over again. It’s always a bit of a red flag when there is so much management turnover, as each team can be so different. Still worth it to check Ocotillo out, but worth investigating the management staff.
Trees and views!
I like the idea of being able to rent out an entire house like this while having access to a full maintenance staff, however, it seems like that part is the problem. It seems like maintenance quality, along with the building quality, has much to be desired. It could still be an interesting fit it the right price/availability is open.
I like Westerly 360 a lot. It’s a beautiful property relatively close to Downtown. While it doesn’t give you that open expensive “Hill Country” vibe as the others on the list do, it is secluded enough to be tucked away, yet close enough to feel tied to the heart of Austin. The amenity space and overall size of the property is notably smaller, but it feels reasonable enough.
Alexan Garza Ranch is a heavy-hitting newcomer to the South Austin Scene. Its location puts it much closer to South Austin and Downtown than the others here. I’m really impressed by the overall quality of the building. However, it is priced like a building that should be within the 78704 zip code. That being said, this apartment may find itself in a tricky position, where potential renters would rather be in 78704 at these prices, or rather get cheaper space further out.
It’s a shame, this had been one of the best valued apartments in the region, but it seems like management is kinda shitting the bed here. Still worth considering, but with the warnings attached.
Fox Hill is one of the best values in the region. Combining their size, and level of luxury (while not super high, is high enough) makes Fox Hill one of the most compelling value-play apartments in Southwest Austin.
Bell Hill Country is another important player in the medium-priced modern category of Southwest Austin. It’s priced well for the quality of the building, however, it seems to have been attacked by the bad-review monster, mostly related to parking and communication. Despite this, I would say it’s a worthwhile option to look at.
So there you have it!
To conclude, Southwest Austin is one of the most unique places to live in Austin. Living here offers both a quiet hill country lifestyle, yet affords you quick access to Downtown and South Austin attractions so don’t feel too isolated from the city. The cost of living is much lower than South Austin (78704) and feels much less strip-mall-y than far South Austin. There are a ton of high-quality options to choose from, so if you’re working in this area, the apartments on this list can’t be ignored.
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