Northwest Hills is central Austin's overlooked luxury value — same 78731 ZIP, same top Austin ISD campuses (Doss / Murchison / Anderson), but you get bigger lots, mature trees, and more home than you'll find in Tarrytown for the money. Most savvy locals already know.
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Johnny Ronca
SERHANT. Luxury Associate Broker
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Last updated: October 3, 2026 · By Johnny Ronca, SERHANT. Luxury Associate Broker
Your Northwest Hills broker
Johnny Ronca
Luxury Associate Broker, SERHANT. · 20+ years in Austin · 300+ closings · $250M+ in sales · 5.0★ across 100+ verified reviews
What clients say
“Johnny not only helped me buy a great home in Lakeway at a great price back in January of 2021 but he then helped me sell that same house for over $200K of what we purchased it for only 9 months later. Johnny helped us get an offer that was $50K over our asking price. We are extremely happy with Johnny as our "go-to" guy for anything related to real estate.”
Ryan B. · Lakeway buyer & seller
“Johnny guided us to our dream home. He understood exactly what we were looking for and he made the process flow smoothly and gracefully. I never imagined buying a house could feel so easeful! We are so grateful we had Johnny to show us just how smooth the process can be!”
Brandilyn B. · Lake Travis buyer
“I am so grateful that my family and I found Johnny! Johnny is incredibly hardworking, knowledgeable, and detail-oriented, and he TRULY cares about his clients. He worked nonstop to help us find our perfect home and we couldn’t be happier with the results of his hustle and care.”
Julie H. · Austin buyer
More verified reviews on Zillow (5.0★).
Key Takeaways
I'm Johnny Ronca — SERHANT. Luxury Associate Broker in Austin with 20+ years in the Austin market, 300+ closed transactions, and $250M+ in career sales volume. I know Northwest Hills' hillside streets, lot sizes, and Austin ISD zoning line by line — this is a neighborhood where local knowledge changes which lot is actually worth the premium.
📱 Free buyer resource:Download The 2026 Austin Buyer's Playbook
Find the Home That Moves You.
"Johnny is incredibly hardworking, knowledgeable, and detail-oriented, and he TRULY cares about his clients."
— Julie Hindman, verified Zillow review (5.0 ★, 33 reviews)
I work Northwest Hills constantly, and a meaningful share of the best homes here trade quietly — estate sales, pre-market remodels, and owners testing the waters before they list. If you want first look, let's talk.
Johnny Ronca · (512) 797-0965 · [email protected]
(Anonymized examples — reach out for what's actually available this week.)
Pocket Listings — Not on Zillow
I currently have 3 pocket listings in Northwest Hills that aren't on Zillow, Realtor.com, or the public MLS.
Includes a remodeled mid-century ranch near Doss, a contemporary view home off Mesa Drive, and a single-story traditional walkable to Murchison. Price range: $895K–$2.2M. Call me before you search anywhere else — these move fast and won't wait for an open house.
Short answer: Northwest Hills single-family homes closed at a median of $1,280,000 ($469.99 per square foot) across 49 MLS sales from January 1 to October 2, 2026, compared with $1,326,000 ($444.93 per square foot) across 59 sales in all of 2025. Median days on market went from 23 to 18, and sellers closed at 96.6% of original list price versus 95.1%. Like for like, mid-size resales (2,400–3,600 sq ft, built 1962–1992, no new construction) closed at a median $1,300,000 in 2026 against $1,325,000 in 2025, or $448.19 against $443.10 per square foot.
| Northwest Hills | Sales | Median close | Median $/sq ft | Median days on market | Close ÷ original list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All single-family · 2025 (full year) | 59 | $1,326,000 | $444.93 | 23 | 95.1% |
| All single-family · 2026 (Jan 1–Oct 2) | 49 | $1,280,000 | $469.99 | 18 | 96.6% |
| Same months of 2025 (Jan 1–Oct 2) | 42 | $1,375,000 | $460.80 | 21 | 94.3% |
| Last 90 days (Jul 4–Oct 2, 2026) | 21 | $1,163,500 | $416.88 | 23 | 92.1% |
Every row compares the same kind of home, year against year: single-family resales with 3+ bedrooms, 2+ full baths and a 2+ car garage, built 1962–1992, with new construction left out. Each size band runs 20% either side of 2,000, 3,000, 4,500 and 6,750 square feet, the way an appraiser brackets a subject home.
| Home size | 2025 sales | 2025 median close | 2025 $/sq ft | 2026 sales (Jan 1–Oct 2) | 2026 median close | 2026 $/sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry · 1,600–2,400 sq ft | 13 | $879,000 | $492.16 | 8 | $1,146,500 | $515.77 |
| Mid · 2,400–3,600 sq ft | 27 | $1,325,000 | $443.10 | 25 | $1,300,000 | $448.19 |
| ↳ Mid with a private pool | 10 | $1,290,575 | $467.77 | 10 | $1,428,250 | $520.09 |
| Large luxury · 3,600–5,400 sq ft | 6 | $1,562,500 | $349.48 | 8 | $1,774,000 | $452.33 |
| ↳ Large luxury with a private pool | 2 | — | — | 5 | $1,900,000 | $479.91 |
A dash means fewer than five sales in that band that year, so no median is published. New construction, meaning a home built in the year it sold or the year before, is left out of the rows above: 4 sold in 2025 and 0 in 2026. Also left out: 9 resales built outside 1962–1992.
Homes are selling faster in 2026: a median 18 days on market against 23 in 2025. Sellers closed at 96.6% of original list price. The last 90 days: 21 closings at a median $1,163,500 and 23 days on market. MLS sales since January 2025 closed between $710,000 and $3.23 million.
Source: Unlock MLS (ACTRIS) via Matrix, pulled October 2, 2026. Closed single-family sales in subdivisions whose recorded name begins with Northwest Hills, ZIPs 78731 and 78759 (other plats inside the neighborhood are not counted). 2025 = full year; 2026 = January 1 to October 2, 2026. Medians, not averages. Sales counts are not a trend on their own because 2026 is a partial year; compare against the same months of 2025. Private and off-market sales that never reached the MLS are not included. Like-for-like rows use a second MLS search of the same area limited to 3+ bedrooms, 2+ full baths and 2+ garage spaces; resales only, built 1962–1992 (the 30-year span that holds the most resales in this area); new construction reported separately. Compiled and analyzed by Johnny Ronca, Luxury Associate Broker, SERHANT. Compare every neighborhood in my Austin 2025 vs 2026 price table.
I've been selling Austin luxury real estate for 20 years, and Northwest Hills is one of those addresses where, when someone tells me they live there, I immediately know three things about them: they were paying attention to school zoning, they value mature trees and big lots over square-footage trophies, and they didn't want to spend an hour a day in the car.
Northwest Hills is the hillside, tree-canopied stretch of central-northwest Austin tucked between Far West Boulevard, Mesa Drive, MoPac (Loop 1), and the Bull Creek greenbelt — squarely inside the 78731 ZIP code. It was built out largely from the 1960s through the 1980s and has remained one of Austin's most consistent "move-up" neighborhoods ever since.
The housing stock runs the full range: original mid-century ranches, updated 1970s traditionals, generous 1980s two-stories, and a growing slice of contemporary teardown rebuilds. That mix is the whole reason the neighborhood works financially — almost every budget from $650K to $2.5M+ can find a home that makes sense here.
Lots are unusually generous for central Austin. Many sit on 0.25–0.5 acre, and the topography means privacy. On the right street, you get real downtown or Hill Country views without leaving for the suburbs.
Northwest Hills feeds into Austin ISD's most sought-after central campuses, including Doss Elementary and Hill Elementary, Murchison Middle School, and top-rated Anderson High School. Proximity to these schools — plus solid private options nearby like Hill Country Christian and St. Theresa's — is one of the single biggest reasons buyers compete for 78731 addresses. (Confirm assigned campuses for any specific home before you offer.)
The Austin-ISD school optimizer — Family that ran the math and realized Doss + Murchison + Anderson is a 13-year, top-of-district public-school ladder for less than the cost of equivalent Eanes ISD addresses in Westlake.
The tech-corridor commuter — Engineer or PM at The Domain (Amazon, Meta, IBM, Indeed) who wants a real house and yard inside a 10-minute drive to the office instead of a downtown high-rise.
The long-stay original owner — Bought a 1970s ranch in the '90s, raised three kids, and is finally trading the big house for something one-story two blocks over. These are the off-market estate sales.
From most Northwest Hills addresses you're roughly 15–20 minutes to downtown via MoPac off-peak, 8–12 minutes to The Domain, 25–30 minutes to Austin-Bergstrom Airport, and 10–15 minutes to the University of Texas and the medical-school / Dell Med corridor. Those numbers are why dual-career households in tech and medicine keep choosing this ZIP.
Daily life is green and convenient. Bull Creek District Park is at your back door for trails and swimming holes; the Arboretum and The Domain cover shopping, dining, and nightlife; and MoPac plus 360 make the rest of the city easy to reach. Local staples include Kerbey Lane, Pinthouse Pizza on Burnet, Verde Cocina, and a quiet rotation of neighborhood coffee shops along Far West Boulevard. It's settled and friendly — the kind of neighborhood people buy into and stay in for decades.
If schools and central access top your list, Northwest Hills usually wins. If you want newer construction or big Hill Country views, the other two are worth a look — and I'm happy to tour all three with you in a single afternoon.
"We were relocating from the Bay Area and had three weekends to figure Austin out. Johnny didn't push the flashy new builds — he walked us through three Northwest Hills streets, told us exactly which lots had been remodels versus full rebuilds, and which had real Doss zoning. We closed on an updated ranch off Mesa eight days later and we're still here four years on."
— Sarah K., Northwest Hills, 2022
I know these streets, the school zoning, and which remodels actually added value versus which just added price. Northwest Hills rewards local knowledge — the right lot, on the right street, near the right school makes a real difference here — and that's exactly where I help buyers and sellers get it right.
"I am very happy with the service provided by Johnny Ronca and his team. This house purchase was a very large transaction for me, and Johnny made it happen very smoothly and in a timely fashion. I will recommend Johnny to my friends in the future." See verified reviews from my past clients on Zillow (5.0★).
Closing-Day Video Testimonial
“So we just closed on our very first house with Austin’s best real estate agent… I don’t know how people do this alone. If y’all are looking for a real estate agent, this is the only one. Look no further.”
Josh Trent · Host of the Wellness + Wisdom podcast · Austin homebuyer
“Johnny did an incredible job helping me to negotiate the price down on this house. We got tens of thousands of dollars in discounts that I would not have had without his support. He remained available to me through several months of escrow while the house was being fixed up and was incredibly helpful in identifying new contractors.”
Andrew H. · Austin buyer
Looking beyond Northwest Hills? My Austin pocket listings page carries the current off-market count for every area I cover, how these homes reach me before the MLS, and a short form to tell me exactly what you are looking for.
Off-market access
Ask me what is quietly for sale in Northwest Hills
Not every home here reaches Zillow or the public MLS. Some sellers will trade privately but will not sign a listing agreement, and those homes only surface through relationships. Mine run 20 years deep — a cross-brokerage network, Austin Luxury Network access, and Johnny’s Off Market Private Luxury Listings. Some of the coolest and most coveted luxury properties in Austin only ever sell as pocket listings.
Tell me your price range and must-haves and I’ll send you what matches — today, not when it hits the market. Contact me to see which gems match your specific needs, and what I expect to come up in Northwest Hills in the next 90 days.
More from clients
“We were so fortunate to have found Johnny Ronca 7 years ago when we bought our first home in Austin. He helped us find the right house in the right neighborhood, for the right price. He was so great we came back for his expertise when it was time to sell that first home and to help us with the purchase of our next home. Our family has definitely found our lifetime realtor.”
India G. · Repeat client, buyer & seller
“He sent us tailored options that considered all of our must-haves and was patient with us being super picky too. Once we found The One he went above and beyond to get our offer accepted within our budget — on a Saturday afternoon too! It was a really tight timeline before the holidays and before baby was born, and there’s no way we could have done it without Johnny!”
Margeaux O. · Austin buyer
“Johnny Ronca has been an invaluable asset throughout the sale of our old home and the purchase of our dream home. During the sale, Johnny facilitated a bidding war and got an all-cash offer significantly over our asking price. He helped us find and strategize our way into our new dream home and negotiated a way for us to move in prior to closing.”
Buyer & Seller · Austin buyer & seller
More verified reviews on Zillow (5.0★).
More neighborhoods nearby: Jester Estates
Thinking of selling?
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Northwest Hills is an established hillside neighborhood in northwest-central Austin (78731), built largely from the 1960s through the 1980s and known for mature trees, larger lots, strong Austin ISD schools, and quick access to MoPac, The Domain, and downtown.
Austin ISD — with sought-after campuses including Doss and Hill Elementary, Murchison Middle, and top-rated Anderson High School.
Most homes fall roughly between $650K and $1.4M, with view lots and new builds reaching $2.5M+. The neighborhood trades well above the Austin metro median (~$440K) because of central location and the school zoning.
About 15–20 minutes via MoPac off-peak, and only 8–12 minutes to The Domain. That dual access is the single biggest reason dual-career families pay a premium for 78731.
A mix of 1960s–80s ranches and traditionals (many updated), plus newer contemporary rebuilds, on generous, often wooded, hillside lots ranging from about 0.25 to 0.5 acre.
Northwest Hills is more established and central with a stronger schools draw. Great Hills is newer, closer to The Domain, and often offers more square footage for the price — but with less mature trees and a lighter Austin ISD schools story.
Owner tenure is unusually long here — many families stay 20+ years for the schools — so turnover is naturally limited, and a meaningful share of activity is off-market estate sales and pre-list remodels that never hit Zillow.
Historically yes. Central location, top Austin ISD schools, and limited hillside lot supply support steady long-term demand and resale strength, even when the broader Austin market softens.
Most homes are 40–60 years old, so unless you're buying a rebuild you should expect to budget for some updates. Lots are great but topography means a few streets have tougher driveways, and entry-level inventory under $750K is thin and moves fast.
Johnny Ronca, SERHANT. — 20+ years selling Central Austin luxury real estate, 300+ closed transactions, $250M+ in career sales, and direct experience with Northwest Hills’ 78731 value proposition against Tarrytown and Old West Austin. Call (512) 797-0965 or email [email protected].
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Whether you're hunting for the right lot near Doss or quietly testing the market on your current home, I'll give you the real local read on what's moving, what's overpriced, and what's about to hit. Johnny Ronca · (512) 797-0965 · [email protected] — or book a quick call: calendar.app.google/Mmtr3L3D16VRD7fQ9
Johnny Ronca
SERHANT. Luxury Associate Broker · 20+ Years · 300+ Transactions · $250M+ Sales
📞 (512) 797-0965 | ✉️ [email protected] | 📅 Book a call
Guides, market reports and local reporting from my blog on Northwest Hills and the surrounding area:
Your insider guide to buying smart in Austin's market. 11 chapters covering undervalued neighborhoods, 2/1 buydown strategies, off-market deals, school rankings, and expert tactics from a Top 1% agent with 300+ closed transactions.
I am committed to guiding you every step of the way—whether you're buying a home, selling a property, or securing a mortgage. Whatever your needs, I've got you covered.
801 BARTON SPRINGS RD AUSTIN, TX 78704
