Smith Ranch, a 2,894-acre recreational property spanning Burnet and Lampasas counties in the Texas Hill Country, has sold less than six months after hitting the market with a $42 million asking price.
TX Real Estate represented the seller in the transaction. The brokerage did not disclose the final sale price or identify the buyer.
Located roughly 75 minutes from Downtown Austin, Smith Ranch was the largest ranch being offered for sale within that distance of the city when it entered the market. Its sale highlights continued demand for large recreational properties within reach of Austin, particularly those combining significant acreage with water, wildlife and developed amenities.
The ranch had been under the same ownership for more than 20 years and was developed during that period as a private hunting, fishing and recreational property.
Despite its extensive hunting infrastructure, Smith Ranch was never operated as a commercial hunting ranch. It was used exclusively by the owner’s family and guests, according to TX Real Estate.
“Smith Ranch brought together the things that are increasingly difficult to find on one property near Austin — size, water, wildlife, privacy, major improvements, and accessibility,” TX Real Estate partner Stieler Harris said.
Water is among the property’s most substantial features.
Smith Ranch contains two private lakes measuring approximately eight and 12 acres, along with 13 clay-lined ponds and more than 12 miles of creeks. The lakes have been managed for trophy bass fishing and waterfowl habitat, with improvements including a custom duck blind as well as a sandy beach and picnic area.
The property’s scale and water resources differentiate it within the increasingly developed corridor surrounding Austin. Large contiguous ranches located within driving distance of major Texas metropolitan areas can offer both recreational use and long-term land ownership opportunities while providing significantly more privacy than smaller Hill Country properties.
Smith Ranch is fully enclosed by high fencing and supports trophy whitetail deer as well as an extensive collection of exotic wildlife.
Species on the property include kudu, axis deer, blackbuck, gemsbok, fallow deer, aoudad, oryx and zebra, along with the ranch’s own breed of ram and other wildlife.
The improvements make the property substantially more developed than raw ranch acreage.
Smith Ranch includes two registered airstrips, allowing direct private-aircraft access. Buildings include an approximately 4,500-square-foot lodge, a separate 4,500-square-foot entertainment barn, a guest house and ranch office.
The property also has complete deer breeding facilities and a private shooting complex with skeet, trap, pistol and rifle ranges.
Taken together, those improvements positioned Smith Ranch as a turnkey recreational estate rather than a land acquisition requiring extensive development after closing.
That distinction can be important in the upper end of the Texas ranch market. Buyers evaluating large recreational properties must often consider not only the underlying acreage but also the cost and time required to establish roads, water infrastructure, accommodations, wildlife programs and recreational facilities.
Smith Ranch’s previous owner had already made those investments during more than two decades of ownership.
The combination also presented a specialized marketing challenge because the pool of potential buyers capable of acquiring a property offered at $42 million is considerably narrower than the market for conventional residential or rural real estate.
“Large ranches of this caliber require a very different approach to marketing,” TX Real Estate partner Luke Smith said. “You’re trying to put an exceptional property in front of the right qualified buyers.”
TX Real Estate said it used cinematic media, broader market exposure and targeted outreach to market the ranch, ultimately moving the property from listing to closing in less than six months.
Because the final consideration was not disclosed, it is not possible to determine how closely the transaction price tracked the $42 million asking price. At the original listing price, the property was being marketed at approximately $14,500 per acre, although that simple calculation does not separately value the buildings, lakes, wildlife, airstrips and other improvements.
The transaction adds to activity in the high-end Texas land market, where proximity to major population centers can be an important component of ranch value.
For Smith Ranch, accessibility to Austin was paired with an unusually large landholding, substantial surface water, established recreational infrastructure and a level of privacy more commonly associated with properties farther from a major metropolitan area.
TX Real Estate specializes in ranches, farms and luxury estates throughout Texas.
For the brokerage, the Smith Ranch closing represents a sizable transaction in the recreational ranch segment and demonstrates the marketability of highly improved Hill Country properties when significant acreage and established amenities are combined with reasonable access to Austin.
After more than 20 years under the same ownership, the sale now transfers one of the larger recreational ranches in Austin’s broader orbit to a new owner, concluding a marketing process that lasted less than half a year.