Allandale & Crestview

The feel of Allandale & Crestview

Allandale and Crestview are what people picture when they say “old Austin” and mean the livable, unpretentious version. These are 1950s subdivisions west and east of Burnet Road between 45th Street and Anderson Lane — low-slung ranch homes under mature post oaks and pecans, on lots big enough for a real backyard, a garden, and the trampoline. Crestview, the slightly more modest and slightly more affordable sibling east of Burnet, grew up around the little Crestview Shopping Center at Woodrow and Justin, where Crestview Minimax (now a beloved neighborhood grocery-café corner) has anchored the community since the 1950s. Brentwood, the adjacent neighborhood just south of Crestview, shares the same DNA and often gets shopped in the same search.

Burnet Road is the spine, and it carries the neighborhood’s memory: Top Notch Hamburgers, the drive-in burger stand immortalized in Dazed and Confused, still flips burgers under its vintage sign; Little Deli in Crestview turns out what many locals will tell you is the city’s best sandwich and thin-crust pie. Around those institutions, the corridor has filled in with breweries, restaurants, and new mixed-use — the old and new Austin negotiating in real time.

Who does it suit? Families who want strong AISD elementaries, a yard, and central geography without central-west pricing; buyers who love mid-century bones; anyone splitting a two-career commute between downtown and the north tech corridor. Who should think twice? Buyers who want turnkey new construction on a quiet cul-de-sac — this is an older, evolving grid, and it behaves like one.

Schools

This is Austin ISD at its most reputation-driven. Allandale largely feeds Gullett Elementary; Crestview and Brentwood feed Brentwood Elementary. Both campuses have decades-deep parent loyalty and are a genuine driver of home prices — listings advertise the zoning in the first line. The pattern continues to Lamar Middle School, home of a well-regarded Fine Arts Academy, and McCallum High School, whose fine arts program draws students from across the city.

The honest picture: demand for these zones is priced into the real estate, so you’re paying for the school on the way in and betting on boundary stability. AISD has faced enrollment declines and budget pressure districtwide, and while Gullett and Brentwood have been stable, boundaries in central Austin have moved before. We verify the current attendance zone for any specific address, and we encourage touring the campus rather than trusting the ratings sites.

The commute

The location is the quiet argument for this neighborhood. Downtown is 15–20 minutes via Burnet Road or MoPac (entrances at 45th, 2222, and Anderson), and the Domain is 10–15 minutes straight up Burnet — this is one of the few central neighborhoods where the downtown-versus-Domain question is a genuine toss-up rather than a sacrifice.

Crestview adds a real transit card: the CapMetro Red Line’s Crestview Station at Airport and Lamar, with service south to downtown and north toward the Domain-adjacent stations and Leander. It’s commuter rail, not a subway — frequencies are limited outside peak — but for a downtown or Domain office worker it’s a legitimate daily option, and the station area has grown its own node of apartments and retail. Anderson Lane and Burnet both congest at peak, and the 2222/MoPac interchange is the pinch point heading west.

Property taxes and remodel-versus-teardown math

Effective property tax rates run roughly 1.8–2.0% of market value — City of Austin, Travis County, AISD, and Central Health, with no MUDs. Long-held homes here often carry heavily homestead-capped taxable values, which reset on sale; we model the post-purchase tax bill so there are no surprises the following January.

The defining ownership question in Allandale and Crestview is remodel versus teardown, and it’s genuinely contested. Lot values have risen enough that builders actively hunt original ranches, replacing them with much larger two-story homes — sometimes handsome, sometimes out of scale with the block. If you’re buying an original home, the same tension works in your favor at resale but means your inspection findings (post-tension versus pier-and-beam slabs, cast-iron drains, 1950s panels) should shape the offer. We help buyers price both paths honestly before they commit to either.

What you’ll find

The core inventory is the 1950s–60s ranch: 1,200–2,000 square feet, three bedrooms, low rooflines, oak floors under the carpet if you’re lucky, on lots commonly 8,000–10,000+ square feet. Around it: tasteful expansions, full studs-out remodels, and a growing crop of new builds in the $1.3M-and-up range.

Per Redfin and Zillow public market data as of mid-2026, Crestview originals typically trade from around $600K, Allandale originals from the $700Ks into the $900Ks–$1M depending on lot and condition, and remodeled or new homes from $1.1M to $1.4M+ — verify current, as this submarket’s monthly medians swing with the mix of originals versus rebuilds. Buyers comparing along the corridor often also tour Rosedale and Bryker Woods for older cottages closer to the medical center, Northwest Hills for mid-century homes with hillside views, or Hyde Park for pre-war character — each trades lot size against something else, and we’ll show you exactly how.