While 2013 was one of the best years for the Texas housing market since its peak in 2006, the Marfa real estate market also ended the year strong with higher volume of sales and increases in prices.
But higher sales prices have also contributed to a shortage of affordable housing in Marfa. Valda Livingston, owner of Livingston Real Estate said, “There’s a shortage for the lower-end sales because most of the properties that are really livable are $100,000 and more. A lot of young people that would like to own just can’t really get into the market.”
The recent spike in the real estate market might also explain why houses in Marfa have been appraised at a fraction of their actual cost. The tax appraisal office has hired an outside consulting firm to address the imbalance. Cynthia Ramirez, Marfa’s chief tax appraiser, anticipates big change on the horizon, including increases in property taxes.
“That’s going to affect a lot of the locals that have lived here all their lives,” Ramirez said. “It’s going to have a big impact on them financially. A lot of them are elderly—they live off social security—so that’s going to be really hard on them.”
- Sasha Von Oldershausen