Dripping Springs · Hays County
Heritage
Dripping Springs ISD, the lowest tax rate of any community covered here, and about two months of supply. This is the one page in this series where the honest advice is not how to negotiate. It is how to win, and when to walk away.
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Be ready before you tour
In a community clearing in two months, the buyer who is fully underwritten and knows their plan gets the release. Luke Allen will get you there first, then work the lot releases and the financing, which is where the room actually is.
The short version
Heritage is an M/I Homes and Tri Pointe joint venture heading for about 586 homes off Ranch Road 12, with 18 homes for sale from $349,990 to $634,990, at a median near $444,082 and about $196 a square foot. The amenity centre and pool are open, not planned.
Two numbers explain this community. Fifty-five homes have closed here in six months against 18 for sale, which is roughly two months of supply where the metro runs near six. And the combined tax rate is about 1.73 percent, the lowest of anything covered on this site, with no district stacked on top.
Put those together with Dripping Springs ISD and the tightness stops being a mystery. It also changes the advice completely. Everywhere else on this site the job is to negotiate. Here the job is to be ready, to move, and to know your walk-away number, because urgency is how people overpay.
The number that changes everything
About two months of supply, against six for the metro
Months of supply is simply the homes for sale divided by how fast they are selling. Every figure below is calculated the same way from the ACTRIS closed records, so the comparison is like for like against the other communities covered in depth here.
Six months is the rough line between a market that favours buyers and one that favours sellers. Heritage is at a third of that. Practically, it means the inventory you see on a Tuesday may not be there on Saturday, that a builder has no reason to discount, and that every piece of advice on the slower pages of this site, about standing inventory and motivated sales offices, simply does not apply here. Read the quarterly market report for how the metro figure is calculated.
Why
A premium district at the lowest tax rate on this site
Tight markets usually have a reason. This one has two, and they are both on the tax bill and the school map rather than in the marketing.
The tax rate
| Dripping Springs ISD | 1.1052% | $4,908 |
| Hays County | 0.3999% | $1,776 |
| City of Dripping Springs | 0.2267% | $1,007 |
| Combined | 1.7318% | $7,691about $641 a month |
Three entities, and no fourth. Nothing in the listings, the builders’ own material or the county’s published districts shows a MUD or a PID here. For comparison, Meadowlark Preserve runs about 2.94 percent all in and Lariat about 2.68. On this median home that gap is over four hundred dollars a month.
The absence of a district is worth confirming rather than assuming. Pull the rate and the taxing units for the specific lot from the Hays Central Appraisal District before you rely on it.
The schools
Dripping Springs ISD, with Dripping Springs Middle and Dripping Springs High on every record in the community. The district is one of the reasons people pay to be out here, and unlike several other communities covered on this site there is no surprise buried in the assignment.
One thing to check anyway. Every home currently for sale shows Dripping Springs Elementary, but closed sales here include homes zoned to Walnut Springs Elementary, and one street has sold homes split evenly between the two. So the community spans an elementary boundary even though the current inventory does not show it. Run the address through the district lookup rather than assuming from the street.
- An amenity centre with a swimming pool, open and in use
- Pickleball courts
- Playgrounds, ponds and pocket parks through the community
- A walking trail planned along Mercer Street
- Streets named after trees, which is the easiest way to tell you are inside it
Association dues are $600 a year, identical on every listing, which is the lowest of any amenitised community covered here and leaves no ambiguity to chase.
Every home for sale
The whole available inventory, on one map
There is not much of it, which is the point. Each pill is a live listing with its asking price.
Everything available, cheapest first
At two months of supply this list turns over quickly. If something here fits, the useful response is a phone call rather than a bookmark.
New ConstructionCourtesy of M/I Homes Realty
New ConstructionCourtesy of M/I Homes Realty
New ConstructionCourtesy of M/I Homes Realty
New ConstructionCourtesy of M/I Homes Realty
New ConstructionCourtesy of M/I Homes Realty
New ConstructionCourtesy of M/I Homes Realty
New ConstructionCourtesy of M/I Homes Realty
New ConstructionCourtesy of M/I Homes Realty
New ConstructionCourtesy of RealAgent
Based on information from Unlock MLS (the Austin Board of REALTORS, ACTRIS) for the period through the most recent sync. Listing data is provided for consumers’ personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties. All information is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. Properties may be listed by brokerage firms other than Austin Marketing + Development Group; the listing broker is shown with each home where the MLS provides it.
The surprise
In a two-month market, the asking prices are below the sold prices
Closed, last six months
$207 / sq ft
55 homes, median $454,990, median size 2,251 sq ft.
Listed today
$196 / sq ft
18 homes, median $444,082, median size 2,223 sq ft.
The difference
About 5 percent
On near-identical median size, so it is a pricing decision rather than a change in what is being built.
This is the opposite of what a tight market usually looks like, and it is worth sitting with for a second. A builder with two months of inventory could be testing the ceiling. These two are not. Median closed size and median listed size differ by about thirty square feet, so the gap is not a mix effect; the homes on the market really are priced a few percent per foot below what the neighbours paid.
The straightforward reading is that M/I and Tri Pointe are pricing for velocity on a 586-home joint venture, which is exactly how you would run a project you want delivered on a schedule rather than squeezed for the last few percent. For a buyer, two things follow. The list price is already keen, so the room is in financing rather than price. And the thing you are competing for is availability, not a discount.
Who is building
Two national builders, one joint venture
M/I Homes and Tri Pointe are developing Heritage together, roughly 586 homes between them, with separate sales offices a few hundred yards apart on Roger Hanks Parkway. It is an unusual structure and it is why the community can look like two communities.
M/I Homes
- Homes for sale
- 14
- Median asking price
- $399,990
- Range
- $349,990 to $634,990
- Median size
- 2,195 sq ft
- Per square foot
- $182
Sales office at 1403 North Roger Hanks Parkway. Plans seen in the feed include the Abernathy, Catarina, Somerset, Barton and Oakwood.
Tri Pointe Homes
- Homes for sale
- 4
- Median asking price
- $567,404
- Range
- $438,174 to $579,400
- Median size
- 2,892 sq ft
- Per square foot
- $196
Sales office at 1385 Roger Hanks Parkway, marketing the Park Collection and the Terrace Collection at Heritage.
Two builders in one community normally means leverage, and in a slower market it would. Here it mostly means choice: different plans, different inclusions, different release schedules. Get on both lists. The practical benefit of the joint venture is that when one builder has nothing that fits, the other sometimes does, and you only find that out by being registered with both.
The practical part
How to buy in a market where you do not have the leverage
Every other community guide on this site ends with how to press a builder who has standing inventory. That advice would lose you a home here. This is the version for a market clearing in two months.
Be fully underwritten before you walk in
Not pre-qualified. Underwritten, with a lender who has read your documents and will say so in writing. In a market clearing in two months the homes that are actually available on any given day are few, and the buyer who can perform is the one who gets the release. This costs you nothing and takes a few days, so do it before you tour rather than after you find something.
Decide your plan and your lot size in advance
Heritage spans roughly 1,400 to 3,365 square feet across two builders and several collections. Work out which range you are actually buying in before you see a model, because the thing that loses homes here is a week spent deciding. Narrow it, then move.
Ask about the release schedule, not the discount
The useful question at a sales office in this market is not what they will take off the price. It is when the next lots release, how many, and how to be on the list. Builders in a tight community release in batches and the people who know the date get first look. Your agent should be asking this monthly, not you asking it once.
Negotiate on financing, which is where there is still room
Even in a two-month market, a national builder will usually contribute toward a rate buydown or closing costs through its own mortgage arm, because that costs them less than a price cut and does not reset the comparable sales for every home behind yours. That is the realistic ask here. A price concession is not.
Do not skip the inspection because you feel rushed
This is the failure mode in a fast market. An independent inspection at frame stage and again before closing costs a few hundred dollars against a home in the mid four hundreds, and a tight market is precisely when buyers talk themselves out of it. The builder's warranty is not a substitute for knowing what is behind the drywall.
Know the number at which you walk
The hardest discipline in a community like this. Decide, in advance and in writing to yourself, the price and the monthly payment above which you stop. Dripping Springs ISD and a 1.73 percent tax rate are genuinely worth paying for, and they are not worth paying anything at all for. Two months of supply creates urgency that is real, and urgency is how people overpay.
One more thing, and it is the reason this page exists. A tight market is not a reason to buy. If Heritage does not fit, the same money buys considerably more home and a great deal more negotiating room at Parkside on the River or Nolina, both carrying more than twelve months of supply. What you would be giving up is Dripping Springs ISD and a tax rate a full point lower. That is the actual trade, and it is a real one in both directions.
Builder-paid representation
Get ready first. Then move.
Heritage clears in about two months, so the buyer who is underwritten, knows their plan, and is on both builders' release lists is the one who gets the home. Luke Allen will get you to that point before you tour, work the lot releases with both sales offices, push the financing concession that is actually available here, and tell you plainly when a home is not worth what the urgency is making it feel like. He represents you, not the builders, and the builder pays his fee in most cases, disclosed in writing before you tour.
Luke Allen
Licensed Texas REALTOR, TREC #788149
Austin Marketing + Development Group
Good to know
Heritage questions, answered
- Is Heritage in Dripping Springs a seller's market?
- By the usual measure, yes, and by a wide margin. Eighteen homes are for sale against fifty-five closed sales over the preceding six months, which works out to roughly two months of supply. The Austin metro as a whole sits closer to six, and the other communities covered on this site run from five to nearly thirteen. Heritage is the tightest market of anything covered here, so a buyer should expect to compete rather than to negotiate on price.
- What is the property tax rate at Heritage?
- About 1.73 percent for a City of Dripping Springs address: Dripping Springs ISD at $1.1052, Hays County at $0.3999 and the City of Dripping Springs at $0.2267. That is the lowest combined rate of any community covered on this site, and nothing in the listings, the builders' material or the county's published districts shows a municipal utility district or a public improvement district here. Treat the absence of a district as a thing to verify rather than assume: confirm the rate and the districts for the specific lot with the Hays Central Appraisal District before you rely on it.
- How much do homes at Heritage cost?
- Active listings run from about $350,000 to $635,000 at a median near $444,000, on homes of roughly 1,403 to 3,365 square feet, as of early October 2026. That is about $196 a square foot. The fifty-five homes closed over the preceding months came in at a median near $455,000 and about $207 a foot, so the current asking prices are actually a little below what has been clearing. Live listings are on this page.
- Why are asking prices at Heritage lower than what has sold?
- Because the builders appear to be pricing for velocity rather than testing the ceiling. Median closed size and median listed size are within thirty square feet of each other, so this is not a mix effect: the homes on the market really are priced a few percent per foot below what the neighbours paid. In a market with two months of supply that is a deliberate choice, and it explains the absorption. For a buyer it means the list price is already keen, which is another reason the negotiation here belongs on financing rather than on price.
- Who builds at Heritage?
- M/I Homes and Tri Pointe Homes, through a joint venture that will deliver about 586 homes in total. That structure is unusual and it is why the community can look confusing from the outside: two national builders, two sales offices on Roger Hanks Parkway, two sets of collections and plans, one community. Tri Pointe markets Park Collection and Terrace Collection at Heritage. Tour both before you commit, because the plans and the inclusions are not the same.
- What schools serve Heritage?
- Dripping Springs ISD, with Dripping Springs Middle School and Dripping Springs High School on every record. The elementary assignment is worth checking for your specific address: every home currently for sale shows Dripping Springs Elementary, but closed sales in the community include homes zoned to Walnut Springs Elementary, and at least one street has sold homes split evenly between the two. The district's own attendance lookup is the only answer that binds.
- What amenities does Heritage have?
- The amenity centre and swimming pool are open and in use rather than planned, along with pickleball courts, playgrounds, ponds and pocket parks through the community. A walking trail along Mercer Street is planned. For a community that began delivering in late 2022 and is heading toward 586 homes, having the amenity already built is a real advantage over master plans still selling a rendering.
- Where is Heritage and how far is the Austin commute?
- Just off Ranch Road 12 near Highway 290 in Dripping Springs, roughly 25 miles west of downtown Austin. Realistically that is 35 to 55 minutes to downtown depending on the hour, and the 290 corridor through Oak Hill is the constraint rather than the distance. The southwest tech employers around Southwest Parkway are closer, nearer 25 to 40. If you are commuting daily, drive 290 eastbound at your actual departure time before you commit to anything here.
Related
Keep comparing
- 01New homes in Dripping SpringsEvery new-construction listing in Dripping Springs, and how the rest of the area compares on tax and acreage.
- 02HeadwatersThe other major Dripping Springs ISD master plan, larger and more amenitised, for the direct comparison.
- 03Parkside on the RiverThe opposite market: twelve months of supply in Georgetown, where the leverage is entirely yours.
- 04Best New Construction CommunitiesAn honest, buyer-side ranking by value, schools, amenities, luxury, and commute.
- 05The Austin New Construction ReportOriginal quarterly research measured from the MLS, free to cite. Including why the single-story filter is broken here.
- 06Buydown CalculatorWhat a 2-1 or 3-2-1 buydown really does to your payment, versus a price cut.
- 07Buyer's Agent vs the Builder's RepWho pays, what gets negotiated, and what changes at the design center and inspection.