Buyers Head West for Mansions
And Vast Homes on the Range



By Lauren Baier Kim

Here's a look at what's new in real-estate markets across the U.S. from around the Web. (Some links may require registration or subscriptions.)

Homes on the range

Buyers of all sorts -- executives, physicians, oil tycoons and business owners -- are looking to lasso ranch properties in Central Texas, according to the Austin American-Statesman. The ranches, which are typically at least 100 acres in size, are mostly being purchased by Texans and out-of-staters as purely recreational properties and aren't working ranches in the true sense of the word, the newspaper says. Selling prices range from $4,000 to $20,000 an acre, the American-Statesman says. The ranches are coveted for their views and access to creeks, rivers or streams. Bandera, Blanco, Kendall and Kerr county ranches garner the highest selling prices -- last year's median price for rural land in the area was $7,086 an acre, more than double 2002's median price of $3,600.

Gold Coast glitz

The U.S. housing slowdown hasn't reduced the shine of the luxury real-estate market in San Francisco, where the demand for $3 million and up homes is high, and buyers are purchasing multiple contiguous properties to create large estates, says a San Francisco Chronicle article posted on SFGate.com. One particularly luxurious home, a neoclassical villa that sports a $65 million price tag, is not finished and lacks interior walls, floors and ceilings, SFGate.com says. The Web site estimates that the home requires more than $10 million to complete, and that a person must have a net worth of just under $1 billion to afford the estate. To date, approximately 25 homes priced above $3 million have sold in San Francisco's Pacific Heights neighborhood this year, the article says. Famous residents of Pacific Heights include Ann and Gordon Getty, who own a house spread across two lots and have purchased a third adjacent home for $8.5 million, and Gap founder Don Fisher, who has purchased a home neighboring his own to add a lap pool