Lake Travis mansion, once “most-expensive home in Texas,” takes $10M price cut

UPDATED 4/24/23 10:15am

As home sale prices in Austin fall back into orbit from their spring 2022 high, one lakefront mansion owner is still shooting for the moon. 

Villa del Lago, a 15,400-square-foot estate on Lake Travis, is asking $35 million, or $2,274 per square foot. The house made headlines as the “most-expensive house in Texas,” listed one year ago asking $45 million. The new list price marks a nearly 30 percent decrease. Tucked into the limestone hillside about 20 miles northwest of downtown Austin, the estate’s red-tiled roof and white stucco walls lend it a Mykonos-in-Hill-Country feel. 

There’s plenty to recommend the property: It was built on a 20-acre lot with hilltop views over the lake, where it has its own boat slip and private dock. With a five-car garage, six bedrooms, six half- and seven full bathrooms, there’s room for guests to spare. 

Just outside the main house, an artificial waterfall pours into a grotto flanked by a pair of gryphon statues. Further out, an indoor-outdoor “pavilion” provides space to entertain. 

Villa Del Lago | Lake Travis Waterfront Estate For Sale by Gary & Michelle Dolch / Austin Luxury Group from Gary Dolch on Vimeo.

Gary Dolch of Compass’ Austin Luxury Group has the listing. Lan-Feng and Benjamin Wu purchased the home in 2004, soon after it was built by Sendero Homes. The property has only changed hands once since then, when Houston LLC 12400 Cedar-Land LLC acquired it in 2018.

To reduce the asking price, the seller removed about five acres from the listing, Dolch said. They have also considered pulling all the waterfront land and selling just the home and pavillion for $25 million. The price cut was intended to increase the buyer pool, according to Dolch. He said interest is up, not just at this home but at his other luxury listings as well.    

Home sale prices are not disclosed in Texas as they are in many other states, but Dolch’s group topped the Austin Business Journal’s list of sales teams by deal volume in 2022. The priciest deal in the self-reported data, though, was a $38.9 million sale by Kathryn Scarborough of Engel and Volkers.

Austin home prices have taken a beating in recent months, but that decline comes from a steep peak, and prices remain well above pre-pandemic levels. The median sale price in Austin has grown by 50 percent to $536,000, according to data from Redfin. In Villa Del Lago’s zip code, the median sale price is $1.2 million, down from an early-2022 high of $1.75 million and slightly above early 2020 norms.

UPDATE: Comments added from Dolch about the new asking price came in after publication time.