Round Rock · Williamson County
Sauls Ranch East
A few streets of new homes backing onto the Brushy Creek greenbelt, inside Round Rock city limits, with no MUD. It costs more per square foot than any master plan in Williamson County and less to carry every single month. That trade is the whole story here.
Prefer to talk now? Call or text 254-718-2567
Run the real monthly number first
Sticker price is the wrong comparison between a no-MUD address and a district community, and the tax figure on these listings is the vacant lot. Luke Allen will run the actual payment on a specific home against whatever else you are considering, before you tour.
The short version
Sauls Ranch East is a small community of 13 homes currently for sale from two builders, off Creek Bend Boulevard in Round Rock. Prices run $749,900 to $933,682 at a median near $879,900, which is about $280 per square foot.
That per-foot number is high for Williamson County, and it is also the wrong way to judge this place. Sauls Ranch East sits inside Round Rock city limits with no MUD, so the combined tax rate is somewhere around 1.7 to 1.8 percent where the big master plans up the road run 2.4 to 2.7. On a home at this price that difference is $650 a month against Lariat, forever.
Two more things the sales office will not lead with. The tax figure printed on several of these listings is about $1,741, which is the vacant lot, not the house, and the real bill is roughly nine times that. And every home that has closed here sold for more than the median home listed today, which is an unusual position and a useful one if you are the buyer.
The argument for buying here
No MUD, and what that is worth every month
A municipal utility district is how most new construction in Williamson County got its roads, water, and amenities paid for, and the homeowner retires that debt through the tax bill. Sauls Ranch East does not have one. Here is the same $879,900 home, the live median in this community, carried at the published rate in each of the three communities this site covers in depth.
| Community | Combined rate | Tax per year | Tax per month | Versus Sauls Ranch East |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sauls Ranch EastCity of Round Rock, no district | 1.79% | $15,750 | $1,313 | the baseline |
| Parkside on the RiverGeorgetown, with its own MUD | 2.48% | $21,783 | $1,815 | $503 a month more |
| LariatLiberty Hill, North San Gabriel MUD No. 1 | 2.68% | $23,555 | $1,963 | $650 a month more |
Rates are the published combined figures for each community and change every year. Sauls Ranch East uses 1.79 percent, which is the number both builders advertise in their own listings; the published 2025 component rates for a Round Rock city address in 78681 actually sum to about 1.68 percent before the county road district and emergency services, so the builders are if anything quoting against themselves. Confirm the current rate for any specific lot with the Williamson Central Appraisal District.
Run that forward. At the Lariat rate, the extra tax on this same home over ten years is roughly $78,047, before you count what the money would have earned. That is the honest way to read a price per square foot that looks high.
Read the listing carefully
The tax figure on these listings is off by about ninefold
Several active listings in Sauls Ranch East carry an annual tax amount of about $1,741. Nobody is being deceptive. That is the figure the appraisal district had on file for the vacant homesite, before the finished house was added to the tax roll, and the MLS carries it forward because it is the last real number on record.
On a $879,900 home at 1.79 percent, the first full year once the house is assessed is somewhere near $15,750. That is the number to budget, the number your lender will eventually escrow from, and roughly 9 times what the listing shows.
This catches people in a specific and expensive way. If the initial escrow is set from the land figure, the monthly payment looks fine at closing and then an escrow shortage notice arrives in year two, asking for the gap in a lump sum plus a higher ongoing payment. Ask your lender in writing which figure they used to build the escrow, and if it is the low one, ask them to re-run it.
This happens on new construction everywhere in Texas, not only here. It is on this page because the gap at this price point is large enough to matter and because the figure is sitting in plain sight on the listings right now.
The two numbers
What the listing shows
$1,741
Annual tax on the vacant homesite
What you will pay
$15,750
First full year on a $879,900 home at 1.79 percent, about $1,313 a month
Every home for sale
A community you can see all of at once
Three streets, and that is the community. At this size you can compare every available home against every other one, which is a luxury you do not get in a 1,500-acre master plan.
Every home for sale, cheapest first
Watch the price per square foot as you go up the list rather than the headline price. The two builders here do not price the same way, and the difference shows up per foot before it shows up anywhere else.
New ConstructionCourtesy of New Home Now
New ConstructionCourtesy of New Home Now
Built 2026Courtesy of Outlaw Realty
Built 2026Courtesy of Outlaw Realty
New ConstructionCourtesy of New Home Now
New ConstructionCourtesy of Outlaw Realty
New ConstructionCourtesy of New Home Now
New ConstructionCourtesy of New Home Now
New ConstructionCourtesy of New Home Now
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.
An unusual position
Everything that has sold here went for more than what is listed now
Nine homes closed
$849,900 to $1,041,188
Median about $929,900, around $292 per square foot. The whole closed set sits above $849,000.
Listed today
$749,900 to $933,682
Median $879,900, around $280 per square foot. Four homes are listed below the cheapest sale.
The gap per foot
About 4 percent
Current asking prices sit several percent below what the neighbours actually paid, on homes of nearly identical median size.
This is the opposite of what Lariat shows, where the median listed home runs well above the median sold. Two readings are possible and both are useful to you. Either the builders have quietly moved asking prices down to keep absorption going in a small community, or the earlier buyers took the premium lots and plans and what is left is the more ordinary inventory. The size figures point at the first: median closed size and median listed size are within sixty square feet of each other, so this is not a mix effect. Either way, a buyer today is paying less per foot than the people already living on the street, and that is worth saying out loud when you negotiate.
Closings have run at roughly one to three a month through 2026, which against 13 homes on the market is on the order of seven months of supply. That is tighter than Parkside on the River and looser than the metro as a whole, and it is a small enough sample that one month swings it, so treat it as a direction rather than a precise figure.
Who is building
One community, two builders, two names
Coventry calls it Sauls Ranch East. MileStone calls it Sauls Ranch. The MLS files everything under Sauls Ranch East. That is why this community is so hard to research, and why comparing the two side by side is worth doing in person.
Coventry Homes
- Homes for sale
- 9
- Median asking price
- $889,900
- Range
- $749,900 to $933,682
- Median size
- 3,176 sq ft
- Median per square foot
- $280
Markets the community as Sauls Ranch East. Eight plans, roughly 2,380 to 3,270 square feet.
MileStone Community Builders
- Homes for sale
- 4
- Median asking price
- $812,499
- Range
- $789,999 to $899,999
- Median size
- 2,858 sq ft
- Median per square foot
- $284
Markets the same community as Sauls Ranch. Ten plans, roughly 2,140 to 3,710 square feet, 114 homes planned.
Two builders is the sweet spot for negotiating. With nine, as at Lariat, no single sales office feels any pressure from the one next door. With one, as at VUE at 2222, there is nobody to play against at all. With two, side by side, on the same streets, with the same schools and the same tax rate, the only variables left are plan, inclusions, and what each one will pay toward your rate. That is a conversation worth having properly.
Schools and setting
No ambiguity, for once
Every listing in this community, active and closed, shows the same three campuses: Fern Bluff Elementary, Chisholm Trail Middle, and Round Rock High, all Round Rock ISD. After Parkside on the River, where the community straddles two districts and the published builder rule no longer matches the listings, it is worth saying plainly when the records are clean. Here they are. Confirm the exact address with the district anyway, because boundaries move, but there is nothing unusual to untangle.
The setting is the other draw. Several homesites back directly onto the Brushy Creek greenbelt with no rear neighbours, which in a neighbourhood of this size is most of what distinguishes one lot from another. The Brushy Creek Trail system itself is one of the best in the metro, with parks, splash pads, fishing docks, and kayak launches strung along it. Note the wording carefully in the listings though: direct access from the neighbourhood is described as future. The greenbelt view is real today; the connection is a promise.
The essentials
- District
- Round Rock ISD
- Elementary
- Fern Bluff
- Middle
- Chisholm Trail
- High
- Round Rock High
- Combined tax rate
- About 1.68% to 1.79%, no MUD
- HOA
- About $114 to $115 a month
- Typical homesite
- Roughly 0.15 to 0.23 acre
- Homes
- Four bedrooms, two or three-car garages, all built 2026
Before you tour
Six things to settle first
None of these are reasons to stay away. They are the things that cost buyers money here because nobody at a sales office is paid to raise them.
Ignore the tax figure on the listing sheet
Several active listings here show an annual tax amount around $1,741. That is the county's assessment of a vacant lot, carried forward before the finished house is on the roll. The real first full-year bill on a home in the $800s is in the neighbourhood of $15,000. Your lender will escrow from the real number eventually, and if the initial escrow was set from the land figure you will get a shortage notice in year two.
Compare the payment, not the price per foot
At roughly $280 a square foot, Sauls Ranch East looks expensive next to the Williamson County master plans at $190 to $235. Then run the tax. Without a MUD, the monthly carrying cost here is several hundred dollars below a comparably priced home in a district community, every month, for as long as you own it. That is the entire argument for buying here, and it is a strong one.
Know that everything sold so far went for more than what is listed now
The nine closed sales in this community range from about $850,000 to $1,041,000 at a median near $930,000. The homes on the market today start at $749,900 and median near $880,000. Per square foot, current asking prices sit several percent below what the neighbours actually paid. That is a good position for a buyer and a fact worth raising in a negotiation.
Ask which section and which builder
Two builders are selling here and they market the place under two different names, Sauls Ranch and Sauls Ranch East. Their plans, inclusions, and price per foot are not the same. Tour both before you decide, and do not assume an incentive at one sales office is available at the other.
Check the trail connection in writing
The listings describe direct access to the Brushy Creek Trail system as future, not existing. Brushy Creek is genuinely one of the best trail systems in the metro and the greenbelt backing on some lots is real today. The neighbourhood's own connection to it is a promise. Ask who is building it and when.
Budget the HOA properly
Dues run about $114 to $115 a month here, against roughly $70 a month at the big Williamson County master plans. That is the right way round given there is no MUD absorbing the infrastructure, but it is a real line in the budget and it is monthly, not annual.
Builder-paid representation
Two builders, side by side. Let's make them compete.
Sauls Ranch East is small enough that one conversation covers every home for sale in it. Luke Allen will run the real monthly number on a specific house, including the tax the listing is not showing you, compare it against the MUD communities you are also looking at, and work both sales offices on inclusions and rate. He represents you, not either builder, 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
Sauls Ranch East questions, answered
- Does Sauls Ranch East have a MUD?
- No, and that is the main reason to look at it. Sauls Ranch East sits inside Round Rock city limits in 78681, so the tax bill is the ordinary stack of Round Rock ISD, the City of Round Rock, and Williamson County, with no municipal utility district layered on top. The published 2025 component rates come to roughly 1.68 percent, and both builders advertise 1.79 percent in their listings. Either figure is dramatically below the 2.4 to 2.7 percent typical of the Williamson County master plans a buyer would otherwise be comparing it to.
- Why do the listings at Sauls Ranch East show such a low property tax amount?
- Because it is the land-only assessment. Several active listings show an annual tax figure near $1,741, which is what the county charged on the vacant homesite before the finished house was added to the tax roll. The real first full-year bill on a home priced in the $800s will be somewhere around $15,000. This is not specific to this community, it happens on new construction everywhere, but it is worth knowing before you build a budget or let a lender set an escrow from it.
- How much do homes at Sauls Ranch East cost?
- Active listings run from $749,900 to about $934,000 at a median near $880,000, as of early October 2026, on homes of roughly 2,425 to 3,268 square feet. That works out to about $280 per square foot. The nine homes that have closed came in higher, from about $850,000 to $1,041,000 at a median near $930,000 and about $292 per square foot, so the current inventory is actually priced below what has sold here. Live listings are on this page.
- Who builds at Sauls Ranch East?
- Two builders: Coventry Homes and MileStone Community Builders. They market the same community under two slightly different names, which is why it is hard to research. Coventry calls it Sauls Ranch East and offers eight plans from roughly 2,380 to 3,270 square feet. MileStone calls it Sauls Ranch, offers ten plans from roughly 2,140 to 3,710 square feet, and has about 114 homes planned. Because there are only two builders and they are selling side by side, the leverage here is in playing one against the other on inclusions.
- What schools serve Sauls Ranch East?
- Fern Bluff Elementary, Chisholm Trail Middle School, and Round Rock High School, all in Round Rock ISD. Unlike some new communities on district boundaries, there is no ambiguity here: every single listing in the community, active and closed, shows the same three campuses. Confirm the assignment for the exact address with the district, since boundaries can shift, but the records on this one are unusually clean.
- Is Sauls Ranch East gated?
- No. Neither builder describes it as a gated community and nothing in the MLS records indicates gated access. It is a small neighbourhood of a few streets backing onto the Brushy Creek greenbelt rather than a gated enclave, and some lots back directly to the greenbelt with no rear neighbours.
- What is the HOA fee at Sauls Ranch East?
- About $114 to $115 a month. That is higher than the roughly $70 a month typical of the big Williamson County master plans, which is the trade you make when there is no municipal utility district financing the infrastructure. It is still far less than the MUD it replaces. Ask for the association's budget and dues schedule in writing.
- How is the commute from Sauls Ranch East?
- The community sits off Creek Bend Boulevard, under three miles from downtown Round Rock and about twenty miles from downtown Austin. I-35, SH 45, US 183, and Parmer Lane are all close, which puts the north Austin tech corridor, the Domain, and Apple's Parmer campus within a realistic 20 to 35 minutes depending on the hour. Downtown Austin is more like 35 to 50 at peak. Drive it at your own hours before you commit.
Related
Keep comparing
- 01New homes in Round RockEvery new-construction listing in Round Rock, and how the rest of the city compares on tax and schools.
- 02MileStone Community BuildersThe builder behind half of this community, plus Larkspur and The Overlook at Westlake.
- 03Parkside on the RiverGeorgetown's 1,500-acre plan: more amenities, a MUD, and a school district line through the middle.
- 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.
- 07How 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.