Pflugerville · Travis County
Meadowlark Preserve
The most attainable new construction covered on this site, at about $151 a square foot, and the one with the highest all-in tax rate. Every listing reports an annual tax of $549. The real number is closer to $9,700, and most of the difference is a district nobody mentions.
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Get the real payment before you get attached
The tax figure on every listing here is the vacant land, and the PID assessment is not disclosed in the MLS at all. Luke Allen will put the actual monthly number in front of you, get the district's payoff quote, and make sure your lender escrows from the right figure.
The short version
Meadowlark Preserve is a Lennar community of about 375 homes in eastern Pflugerville with 62 homes for sale from $285,749 to $397,499, at a median near $330,999. At about $152 a square foot it is the most attainable new construction on this site, against a metro median near $194.
Then there is the tax. Every listing in the community reports the same annual figure of $549, which is the undeveloped land. The real first full-year bill at the median price is near $9,737, roughly 18 times higher, because the community sits in a public improvement district charging an additional $0.7025 per $100 that appears nowhere in the MLS.
The good news is the part nobody tells you: a PID assessment can usually be paid off. The district financed its work with bonds at 6.05 percent, so the installment plan is effectively a loan at that rate. Ask for the payoff figure before you close.
The finding
$549 on the listing, about $9,737 in reality
Two separate things are going on, and they compound. The MLS figure is the vacant land, which is the usual new-construction trap. On top of that, this community carries a district assessment that the listings do not disclose at all. Here is the whole stack on the $330,999 median home.
| Pflugerville ISD | 1.1069% | $3,664 |
| City of Pflugerville | 0.5351% | $1,771 |
| Travis County | 0.3758% | $1,244 |
| Central Health | 0.1180% | $391 |
| Austin Community College | 0.1034% | $342 |
| Ordinary property tax | 2.2392% | $7,412 |
| Meadowlark Preserve PIDNot mentioned on a single listing | 0.7025% | $2,325 |
| All in | 2.9417% | $9,737about $811 a month |
What the MLS says
$549
Identical on every record in the community, which is how you know it was never calculated for a house.
What you will pay
$9,737
A difference of $766 a month against the figure a lender might escrow from.
Rates are the adopted 2025 figures and the PID assessment as reported when the city approved it. Your bill is calculated on the appraised value rather than your purchase price, so treat these as a working estimate and confirm with the Travis Central Appraisal District and the district administrator.
The part nobody mentions
It is a PID, and you can pay it off
The City of Pflugerville approved the Meadowlark Preserve public improvement district and the assessments attached to it. The district funds wastewater, drainage and roads inside the development, financed with $14,700,000 of bonds at 6.05 percent against a total estimated improvement cost of $19,500,000 across about 375 homes.
Here is the part that matters and that almost nobody asks about. A PID assessment is normally payable in annual installments over about 30 years, or in full at any time. Taking the installments means carrying your share of bonds priced at just over six percent. If you have the cash, retiring the assessment can beat the return on most other uses of it in the transaction, and it removes a line from your tax bill permanently.
Two documents settle this. The service and assessment plan is public and sets out what each lot owes. The payoff quote tells you what retiring it costs today. Ask the sales office for both by name, early, and ask your lender how a payoff changes the escrow before you lock anything.
A PID is not a scandal. It is how the roads and drainage here got built without the city carrying the cost, and it is disclosed in the closing documents. The problem is purely that it is invisible at the point when buyers decide what they can afford.
The district, in figures
- Assessment
- $0.7025 per $100 of assessed value
- On the median home
- $2,325 a year
- Bonds issued
- $14,700,000
- Bond interest
- 6.05 percent
- Total improvements
- $19,500,000
- Homes sharing it
- 375
- Term
- about 30 years, or prepay in full
- Mentioned in the MLS
- No listing, anywhere
Roughly $52,000 of improvement cost per home across the district, though each lot's actual assessment is set by the service and assessment plan rather than by dividing evenly. Get yours in writing.
Every home for sale
Meadowlark Preserve on the map
Each pill is a live listing with its asking price. The streets are named after songbirds, which is the easiest way to tell when you have crossed into the community.
The nine most affordable homes here right now
Add about $811 a month to each of these for tax and the district assessment, then compare. That is the number that decides it.
New ConstructionCourtesy of Keller Williams City-View
Built 2026Courtesy of Keller Williams City-View
Built 2026Courtesy of Keller Williams City-View
New ConstructionCourtesy of Keller Williams City-View
Built 2026Courtesy of Keller Williams City-View
Built 2026Courtesy of Keller Williams City-View
Built 2026Courtesy of Keller Williams City-View
New ConstructionCourtesy of Keller Williams City-View
Built 2026Courtesy of Keller Williams City-View
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 school puzzle
3 elementary schools, and the listings cannot agree
Every home in the community shows Weiss High School. Below that, the records diverge. This table is built from the live listings, grouped by street.
| Street | Homes listed | Elementary schools named on those listings |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow Warbler Way | 20 | Carpenter Elementary School (9), Dessau (6), Rowe Lane (5) |
| Orchard Oriel Way | 16 | Rowe Lane (13), Carpenter Elementary School (3) |
| Indigo Bunting Ln | 3 | Carpenter Elementary School (2), Dessau (1) |
| Red Winged Blackbird | 8 | Carpenter Elementary School (8) |
| Spotted Towhee Dr | 7 | Carpenter Elementary School (7) |
| Nashville Warbler Rd | 3 | Carpenter Elementary School (3) |
| Lark Sparrow Dr | 3 | Carpenter Elementary School (3) |
| Prairie Falcon Way | 2 | Carpenter Elementary School (2) |
3 streets name more than one elementary school across their active listings, and Yellow Warbler Way names 3. There are two innocent explanations and no way to tell them apart from here: either a district boundary genuinely runs through the neighbourhood, which happens and is not unusual on the edge of a growing city, or the listing agent has entered the campus inconsistently across a large block of inventory.
From a buyer’s seat the distinction does not matter, because the conclusion is the same either way: the listing sheet is not evidence of your elementary school here. Run the exact address through Pflugerville ISD’s own attendance lookup, get the answer in writing, and run it again if you switch to a different lot mid-contract. If the elementary school is a reason you are buying, this is the first thing to settle, not the last.
Market pace
Moving plenty of homes, at a falling price per foot
Seventy-three homes have closed here over the last six months, which against 62 on the market is roughly five months of supply. That is healthy absorption, better than most of the communities covered on this site.
The interesting part is how. The median closed home has stayed almost exactly the same size all year, around 2,211 square feet, while the median closed price per foot has drifted from $161 in May to $149 most recently. The homes are not getting smaller; they are getting cheaper per foot. That is a builder choosing volume over price, and it is the clearest signal on this page that there is room to negotiate.
Press on the things Lennar can give without resetting the comps for every home behind yours: a permanent rate buydown, closing costs, and included upgrades. On this community in particular, ask whether any part of the PID assessment can be bought down or prepaid as a concession. It is an unusual ask and the answer is sometimes yes.
September and October are thin months in this sample, six and three sales. Read the direction, not the last point.
Closed sales and median price per square foot, 2026
The builder
All Lennar, four collections, one agent
Every home here is Lennar, sold across collections the MLS records as Claremont, Lonestar, Highlands and Coastlines, and listed through a single agent. Plans appearing in the feed include the Hudson, Santiago, Cardwell, Claiborne, Mia, Luna, Marquette, Mason, Sabas, Levi, Aplin and Duff.
A meaningful share are Next Gendesigns, Lennar’s home-within-a-home layout with its own entrance, living area, bedroom, bathroom and kitchenette. In a metro where genuine multigenerational product barely exists below $400,000, that is worth knowing about. If a parent is moving in or an adult child is staying, start there rather than with the square footage.
See the multigenerational homes guide for how these layouts compare across the metro, and the Lennar builder profile for how they handle contracts, incentives and their in-house lender.
- An amenity centre with a swimming pool and an open play area
- A community kitchen and a shared laundry centre, which is unusual and genuinely useful
- Walking trails through the community
- Streets named after songbirds, which is how you know you are inside it
- Homes planned
- About 375
- HOA
- $85 a month
- Typical homesite
- About a tenth of an acre
- High school
- Weiss, Pflugerville ISD
- All-in tax rate
- About 2.94% with the PID
The $85 monthly HOA is modest and identical on every listing, so unlike several other communities covered here there is no ambiguity about the dues. The district assessment is the line to worry about, not the association.
Before you tour
Six things to settle first
This community is genuinely attainable and genuinely selling. These are the things that will cost you money anyway, because none of them appear on a listing.
Ignore the $549 completely
Every listing in this community reports the same annual tax, and it is the undeveloped land's assessment. The real first full-year bill on a home at the median here is somewhere near $9,700 once the house is on the roll and the district assessment is added. That is not a rounding error, it is roughly $760 a month that has to come from somewhere.
Ask for the PID service and assessment plan by name
The community sits in the Meadowlark Preserve public improvement district. Nothing in the MLS mentions it. The document that governs what you owe is called the service and assessment plan, it is public, and the sales office can hand it to you. Ask for it, and ask specifically for the assessment on your lot.
Then ask what it costs to pay the PID off
This is the question almost nobody asks. A PID assessment is normally payable in annual installments over about thirty years, or in full at any time. The district financed its improvements with bonds at just over six percent, so you are effectively carrying a share of that debt at that rate. If you have the cash, paying it off can be a better return than almost anything else in the transaction. Get the payoff figure in writing before you close.
Check the elementary school for the exact address, not the street
Listings on the same street in this community name different elementary schools. One street has three different ones across its active listings. Either the boundary genuinely runs through the neighbourhood or the listings disagree with each other, and from a buyer's seat it does not matter which, because the only answer that binds is Pflugerville ISD's own lookup for the specific address.
Watch the price per square foot, not the price
Homes here have been closing at a falling price per foot through the year while the median size has barely moved. That is a real softening rather than a change in what is being built, and it is leverage. A builder cutting its effective price per foot while still moving volume is a builder that will negotiate on incentives.
One builder, so negotiate on the right things
Every home here is Lennar, listed by a single agent, so there is no second sales office to play against. What is left is the standing inventory, the rate buydown, and what is included. Lennar is usually more willing to move on financing than on price, so that is where the conversation should go.
Builder-paid representation
Ask for the payoff quote. Nobody else will.
Meadowlark Preserve is the most attainable new construction covered on this site and it carries the highest all-in tax rate, because of a district assessment that appears on no listing. Luke Allen will pull the service and assessment plan, get the payoff figure for your lot, make sure your lender escrows from the real number rather than the $549 on the listing, and check the elementary school against the district rather than the listing sheet. He represents you, not Lennar, 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
Meadowlark Preserve questions, answered
- Why do Meadowlark Preserve listings show $549 in property tax?
- Because that is the assessment on the undeveloped land, carried forward because it is the last figure on record. It appears identically on every listing in the community, which is the giveaway. The real first full-year bill on a home at the median price here is closer to $9,700, made up of roughly $7,350 in ordinary property tax and roughly $2,320 in the public improvement district assessment. If a lender sets your initial escrow from the $549, the payment quoted at closing is wrong by hundreds of dollars a month and the shortage notice arrives in year two.
- Does Meadowlark Preserve have a PID?
- Yes. The City of Pflugerville approved the Meadowlark Preserve public improvement district and the assessments that go with it, reported at $0.7025 per $100 of assessed value, to fund wastewater, drainage and roads inside the development. The city issued $14.7 million of PID bonds at 6.05 percent against a total estimated improvement cost of $19.5 million, spread across about 375 homes. Not one active listing in the community mentions it, so the only places you will meet the number are the service and assessment plan and your closing statement.
- Can you pay off a PID assessment at Meadowlark Preserve?
- Generally yes, and it is the most valuable question a buyer here can ask. PID assessments in Texas are normally payable in annual installments over roughly thirty years, or in full at any time. Because the district's bonds carry just over six percent interest, the installment plan is effectively borrowing at that rate. Paying the assessment off, if you have the cash, often beats the return on almost anything else in the deal. Ask the sales office for your lot's payoff amount in writing, and ask your lender how a payoff changes your escrow.
- What is the total property tax rate at Meadowlark Preserve?
- The ordinary entities for a City of Pflugerville address in Travis County come to about 2.24 percent: Pflugerville ISD, the City of Pflugerville, Travis County, Central Health and Austin Community College. Add the PID assessment of $0.7025 and the all-in figure is around 2.93 percent, which is the highest of any community covered on this site. It is also the single biggest reason the low sticker price here does not translate into a low monthly payment. Confirm the current figures for the specific property with the Travis Central Appraisal District and the PID administrator.
- How much do homes at Meadowlark Preserve cost?
- Active listings run from about $286,000 to $397,000 at a median near $330,000, on homes of roughly 1,644 to 2,917 square feet, as of early October 2026. That is about $151 a square foot, the lowest of any community covered on this site and well under the metro median near $194. Homes that have closed came in at a median near $349,500 and about $156 a foot. The sticker is genuinely attainable; the carrying cost is where the money goes.
- What schools serve Meadowlark Preserve?
- Pflugerville ISD, with Weiss High School on every record in the community. Below that it gets complicated: active listings name three different elementary schools, Carpenter, Rowe Lane and Dessau, and two different middle schools, Bohls and Kelly Lane. Listings on the same street name different campuses, and one street has three across its active homes. Either the boundary runs through the neighbourhood or the listing sheets disagree with each other. Run the exact address through Pflugerville ISD's lookup before you write an offer, and do it again if you change lots.
- Who builds at Meadowlark Preserve?
- Lennar, exclusively, across several collections including Claremont, Lonestar, Highlands and Coastlines, and listed through a single agent. Plans seen in the feed include the Hudson, Santiago, Cardwell, Claiborne, Mia, Luna, Marquette, Mason, Sabas, Levi, Aplin and Duff. A meaningful share are Lennar's Next Gen designs, the home-within-a-home layout with a separate suite, entrance and kitchenette, which is one of the few genuinely multigenerational products being built in the metro at this price.
- Is Meadowlark Preserve a good deal?
- It depends entirely on whether you price the PID. At about $151 a square foot it is the most attainable new construction covered on this site, the amenity centre is real, and the absorption is strong, with homes closing at roughly a dozen a month. Against that, the all-in tax rate near 2.93 percent is the highest here, and the price per foot on closed sales has been drifting down through the year. If you buy with the real monthly figure in front of you and you negotiate on financing rather than price, it can be a sound buy. If you buy off the $549 on the listing, you will be unhappy in year two.
Related
Keep comparing
- 01New homes in PflugervilleEvery new-construction listing in Pflugerville, and which parts of the city carry a district assessment.
- 02Multigenerational homes in AustinLennar's Next Gen layouts here are among the few true multigenerational plans in the metro under $400,000.
- 03FoxfieldThe same land-only tax trap at the other end of the market, in north Austin at $331 a square foot.
- 04Best New Construction CommunitiesAn honest, buyer-side ranking by value, schools, amenities, luxury, and commute.
- 05How Much New Construction Costs in AustinThe live median price and price per square foot, what drives the cost beyond the sticker, and the most affordable areas.
- 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.