Despite having entered its third pandemic year, Dripping Springs is projected to have a bright future in 2022.
As a part of Hays County, Dripping Springs belongs to the fastest growing county in Texas — and in the United States (in populations of over 100,000 people). It also sits directly adjacent to Austin, named the #1 place to live in the United States, according to the U.S. News & World Report. Neither area is expected to stop growing anytime soon, said Jason Giulietti, president of the Greater San Marcos Partnership.
“Austin has bloomed beyond its borders, and Dripping Springs has become very much a part of that narrative as it continues to grow outward,” he explained. “Highway 290 continues to branch out west, and that pushes retail, restaurants and other businesses down towards Drip. It’s becoming a pretty direct pipeline of people.”
That pipeline, Giulietti said, has helped Dripping Springs to brand itself as a “hospitality-type” environment, especially as a destination for wineries, breweries and distilleries. In 2022, though, the Dripping Springs area is expected to begin moving past its hospitality and retail roots.
“I think you’re going to see more office, more professional-type careers come to the community because it’s where more and more people are starting to live,” Giuletti said.
As the economy diversifies, the demand for housing is projected to keep going up, strengthening the ongoing seller’s market even more this year.
“In 2021, the median sales price for a house in Dripping Springs is $772,500 — compared to 2020 at $524,955,” said Stephanie Pope, Realtor® with the Pope Team at Stanberry Realtors®.
A number of new developments were approved by the city of Dripping Springs in 2021, with singlefamily homes taking up the bulk of the new residential spaces. This trend will likely continue in 2022, as the city has begun to moderate its density in order to maintain its small-town feel, Pope said.
“I think resales are going to be steady,” she said. “Development will slow down some so city development is able to provide the infrastructure it needs, but it’s a seller’s market out there for sure. The people that are already homeowners in Dripping Springs love the idea of how much money they could get for their property, but they don’t want to move out of Dripping Springs.”
While the city of Dripping Springs will have to decide whether to extend its temporary development moratorium on Feb. 22, it has established a precedent for selective moratorium waivers. At least until the end of February, Dripping Spring residents can expect this selectivity to continue as the city continues to juggle its growth with a lack of infrastructure, said Mayor Bill Foulds, Jr.
“We’ve learned from this already, and we’re trying to work on this process,” he continued. “I think we’ll have adjustments here in the future as well.”
