Tesla Boom Ushers In Trailer Parks, Tiny Homes in Red-Hot Austin
- Housing alternatives arise as costs for traditional homes soar
- Tesla’s $47,000 factory salaries make living in Austin hard
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Elon Musk’s influence is spreading to Oak Ranch, a sprawling development of manufactured homes about five miles south of the Tesla Gigafactory that’s going up outside Austin. New lots line freshly paved roads, each with a patch of gravel ready for a new house.
It’s part of a boom in lower-cost housing alternatives like trailer parks, RV sites and tiny houses across the Texas capital, where the median price for a home has soared to $525,000. Nowhere captures the frenzy as well as Del Valle, where the Tesla plant is nearing completion and investment tied to the carmaker has lifted typical home values by 58% since January 2020, according to data compiled by Zillow Group Inc.