Sometimes Island is back underwater. So are the sandbars that spent the last seven summers baking in the sun off Devil's Cove, and the boat ramps that locals had quietly stopped using because there was nothing to launch into. In mid-July 2026, Lake Travis crossed its full pool mark of 681 feet for the first time since 2019, and by the first week of September the reservoir still sat at roughly 94 percent of conservation capacity. For anyone who has watched this lake shrink and swell over the last decade, that is a genuinely good summer.
It is also the wrong thing to be thinking about if you are buying waterfront property in Spicewood right now.
The lake level is the most visible number in any conversation about Lake Travis real estate, and it is also the least durable one. Rain fills reservoirs. Drought empties them. What actually sets the long-term cost of owning water frontage in Spicewood has nothing to do with how full the lake happens to be the week you tour a house. It has to do with three lines that were drawn long before this year's rain fell, and that will still be there the next time the lake drops.
The line that doesn't move when the rain does
Every waterfront lot on the Highland Lakes carries a flowage easement that extends well above the shoreline you can see. The Lower Colorado River Authority manages Lake Travis as a flood control and water supply reservoir, not a static lake, which means the agency reserves the right to hold water on private land up to a set elevation regardless of who owns the property below it. That easement typically runs to a point well above the 681-foot full pool mark, high enough to cover the flood pool the LCRA needs during a wet year like this one.
Practically, this means the shoreline you photograph during a showing is not the boundary that governs what you can build. Your dock rights, your buildable setback, and your legal waterfront line are set by that easement elevation, not by wherever the water happens to sit that afternoon. LCRA does not require a permit or fee for residential docks under 1,500 square feet of water surface area, but any larger structure, and anything built over LCRA-owned submerged land, needs sign-off from the agency directly, and that approval is tied to the easement line, not the current shoreline.
A full lake makes the view better. It does not move the line that decides what you're allowed to build on it.
Ask for the recorded easement and any existing dock permit before you get attached to a listing photo. A dock that looks perfect in July can be sitting on land the LCRA is legally entitled to flood in a wet year, which is exactly what happened across the Highland Lakes this summer.
Two counties, one shoreline
Spicewood does something most Lake Travis communities do not: it straddles a county line. The Pedernales River arm pulls the western edge of the community into Burnet County, while the eastern side, closer to Lakeway, sits in Travis County. That line is invisible on a drive through town, but it shows up every year on the tax bill, and it shows up at a scale that matters more over a ten-year hold than any single season of rain.
Travis County homeowners pay some of the highest combined property tax rates in the state once city and school district levies are layered on top of the county rate, with documented combined effective rates in the 1.9 to 2.1 percent range for Austin-area properties. Burnet County's median effective rate runs closer to 1.04 percent, even after accounting for the municipal utility district and special district assessments that can push individual bills higher in specific pockets.
Here is what that gap actually looks like on a property near Spicewood's current price point:
| Travis County side | Burnet County side | |
|---|---|---|
| Approximate effective rate | ~1.95–2.07% | ~1.04% (county median) |
| Illustrative annual tax on a $900,000 property | ~$17,550–$18,630 | ~$9,360 |
That is not a rounding difference. It is close to double, and it holds whether the lake is at full pool or forty feet down. If two waterfront lots in Spicewood are priced within a few thousand dollars of each other, the county line, not the dock, is often the bigger number over time. Confirm which appraisal district a specific parcel falls under, the Travis County Appraisal District or the Burnet Central Appraisal District, before you compare two listings as if they carry the same carrying cost.
What's actually under your slab
Most of Spicewood runs on septic, not municipal sewer, and that is a permitting relationship with the LCRA that has nothing to do with lake conditions either. Properties near the Highland Lakes fall under the LCRA's On-Site Sewage Facility program, which requires a licensed site evaluator to determine the type and size of system a given lot can support before anything gets built or replaced. That evaluation depends on soil, slope, and lot size, the same three things every summer for the last twenty years, full lake or empty one.
For a buyer, this means the septic system's age, size, and inspection history belong on the same due diligence list as the dock permit. A system sized for a three-bedroom cottage does not automatically clear for the five-bedroom rebuild some Spicewood buyers have in mind, and getting it re-evaluated and approved can add real time to a closing timeline that has nothing to do with the water outside.
What the numbers say about leverage right now
Set the lake story aside and look at what has actually been happening to price and time on market in Spicewood through the middle of 2026. Over the trailing twelve months, homes that sold went for a median price of roughly $672,000, a meaningful step down from the five-year median of about $799,000 measured across more than 1,100 Spicewood sales going back to 2021. Homes that did sell in the past year took a median of about 80 days to go from list to contract, more than double the five-year median of 35 days. Homes still sitting on the active market as of this spring averaged 126 days.
None of that moved because the lake filled up in July. It reflects a market that corrected from its 2021 to 2022 peak and has stayed soft on speed even as the reservoir did the opposite. For a buyer, the combination of a wider gap between list and sold price and a longer runway on market is the more useful signal to negotiate on right now, not the fact that the shoreline looks better in photos than it did last summer.
Before you write the offer
A few things worth confirming on any Spicewood waterfront property before you go under contract:
- The recorded flowage easement elevation and whether the existing dock has current LCRA approval that transfers with the sale
- Which county appraisal district the parcel falls under, Travis or Burnet, and the actual prior-year tax bill, not just the posted rate
- The septic system's permitted capacity, age, and most recent inspection record through LCRA's OSSF program
- Whether the dock or any shoreline structure exceeds the 1,500 square foot threshold that would trigger a full LCRA permit requirement
- Days on market and any price history for the specific listing, not just the neighborhood average
A full lake is a good summer. It is not a substitute for reading the easement, checking the county line, and asking about the septic system before you make an offer.
If you are weighing a Spicewood waterfront property against something in Lakeway, Volente, or elsewhere along this stretch of the lake, Kristen Balke works this corridor property by property, county line and all. Let's Connect and walk through what a specific parcel actually costs to own, not just what it costs to buy.
