It took an Austin developer 4 years to build 4 small homes that he made no money on as the city struggles to bridge the gap between tiny apartments and pricy houses

Sat, 04/06/2024 - 05:32

One of four smaller homes built on a single lot (right), adjacent to a 5-bedroom single-family home on a similar lot in Austin, Texas. — A five-bedroom single-family home, left, and one of four smaller homes built on a similar lot in Austin.
Eliza Relman/Business Insider

Austin has built a ton of new housing in recent years as the city's population has boomed.
But its restrictive zoning policies have made affordable, medium-density construction hard to build.
One developer's struggles to build infill housing illustrate the city's challenges.

Scott Turner recently sold four homes that he built on what used to be a single corner lot in south central Austin. But the veteran real-estate developer didn't make a profit on the houses, despite selling the four of them for over $2.9 million.