Cat Mountain is the high ground on the west side of Northwest Hills, rising toward Loop 360 in ZIP code 78731. For this page, the Cat Mountain area is drawn a little beyond the plat lines to include the Cat Mountain Section of Northwest Hills, Cat Mountain Villas, North Cat Mountain, Overlook at Cat Mountain and the smaller plats around them, not just one subdivision name.
If views are high on your list, Cat Mountain is a natural place to start. Streets such as Cat Mountain Drive, Mountain Villa Drive, Twin Ledge Cove, Knap Hollow, Jessamine Hollow and Ladera Norte climb and wind, and two homes a few doors apart can have very different views, driveways and yards.
The Cat Mountain Section of Northwest Hills was platted in 1970. Cat Mountain Villas followed from 1974 and North Cat Mountain from 1981, so many homes date from the 1970s through the 1990s, with remodels and newer replacement homes mixed in.
Based on the City of Austin's land use records, about 96% of the 978 residential parcels in this broad area are single-family homes, with 34 duplex lots and only a handful of condo properties.
Property type (City land use) | Parcels | Share |
|---|---|---|
Single-family homes | 940 | 96.1% |
Duplex lots | 34 | 3.5% |
Apartment or condo properties | 4 | 0.4% |
The median single-family lot is about 0.27 acre, but Cat Mountain has the widest spread of the four Northwest Hills areas. Nearly 4 in 10 lots are under 0.20 acre, mostly in Cat Mountain Villas, while about 11% are half an acre or more.
Lot size (single-family) | Share of lots |
|---|---|
Under 0.20 acre | 38.1% |
0.20 to 0.25 acre | 7.6% |
0.25 to 0.33 acre | 18.4% |
0.33 to 0.50 acre | 24.7% |
0.50 to 1 acre | 7.2% |
1 acre or more | 4.0% |
Lot size isn't the same as usable yard here. Slope can turn a large lot into mostly hillside, so walk the yard and check the driveway grade before you fall for a view.
Cat Mountain Villas has a mandatory homeowners association, and its bylaws allow the board to levy assessments. Most of the surrounding sections rely on the Northwest Austin Civic Association (NWACA), which is voluntary. Planned unit developments and smaller newer plats can carry their own deed restrictions or associations, so check the title commitment and resale certificate for any specific home.
North Cat Mountain Greenbelt (about 31 acres) and Barrow Nature Preserve (about 7.6 acres) are City parks in the area, and Bull Creek District Park sits just to the west. See the full Northwest Hills parks and trails guide.
Cat Mountain is in Austin ISD. A sample address on Cat Mountain Drive is zoned to Doss Elementary, Murchison Middle and Anderson High for 2026-27. Doss offers a Mandarin-English Dual Language program, Murchison is an International Baccalaureate World School and Anderson offers IB, AP and OnRamps. Zones vary by address, so confirm any home with the Austin ISD School Finder.
Loop 360 and RM 2222 are minutes away. TxDOT is rebuilding the RM 2222 interchange at Loop 360 as a diverging diamond and adding an underpass at Courtyard Drive, with work that began in April 2026 and is expected to finish in late 2029.
Current Cat Mountain listings appear below. You can also browse Northwest Hills homes for sale.
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Albert Allen is an Austin native and Luxury Real Estate Advisor with Compass. He lives in Northwest Hills and has more than a decade of experience helping clients buy and sell homes across Austin.
Albert represents buyers and sellers in Cat Mountain and throughout greater Northwest Hills. Schedule a Walk & Talk, request a home valuation or ask about private listings.
Yes, broadly. The Cat Mountain Section was platted in 1970 as part of Northwest Hills and sits inside NWACA's boundaries, though many people use Cat Mountain as its own name.
The median single-family lot is about 0.27 acre. Nearly 4 in 10 are under 0.20 acre, mostly in Cat Mountain Villas, and about 11% are half an acre or more.
Cat Mountain Villas has a mandatory HOA. NWACA, which covers the broader area, is voluntary. Check the documents for any specific home.
Very few condo properties. Smaller-lot homes are concentrated in Cat Mountain Villas and nearby planned developments, which the City counts as single-family.
78731.
Sources: City of Austin GIS (Land Use Inventory, subdivision plats, TCAD parcel boundaries, subwatersheds and parks), checked November 2026; Travis Central Appraisal District 2026 property records; Austin ISD School Finder (2026-27). Parcel counts use the City's land use categories for parcels inside, or within about 150 meters of, the subdivision plats named for this area, and are approximate. Albert Allen, REALTOR®, Compass RE Texas, LLC. Information is believed reliable but not guaranteed. Photo: Bull Creek in Bull Creek District Park by Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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