Texas has nearly every type of soil indigenous of the entire US within it. For this ... Austin is the only part of Texas where I have seen basements. ... If your interested I would be happy to show you a few homes that do have a basement, just call me and I will send you the information on those homes directly. read more
Limestone is softer than many kinds of rock, but it's still rock. So it costs more to excavate a basement in limestone than ordinary soil. It can be done, and some new upscale homes in the Austin area do have basements, but I suspect they're out of the price range of most Texans. read more
Austin is the only part of Texas where I have seen basements. Another reason however is the soils here tend to shift around, because we have a lot of caliche/clay soils. Part of Austin is built over the Balcones Fault, and those homes shift around quite a bit. Austin has rocky hills which allow us to build homes in the hills and those homes are more likely to have the basement you seek. read more