We'd like to introduce you to Building Austin, a new American-Statesman newsletter aimed at keeping you in the loop on all the happenings in the booming Central Texas real estate and development market.

I'm Stateman reporter Shonda Novak, and I've been writing about the residential and commercial real estate market in Texas' capital city and surrounding areas for more than 21 years.

A native Texan, and having worked in cities including Albuquerque and Santa Fe, N.M., I returned to Austin in late 2000, just before the tech bust hit. I've been reporting ever since on the trends that have turned the five-county Austin region into what it is today: a market that booms with new development and appears on countless "best of" lists, while also covering the views of those who think the sweeping changes the Austin area is seeing are too much, too fast.

More: Interest rate hike may mean a pause for Austin's hot housing market

The Austin market is seeing its home prices soar, and its commercial sector is blazing with new downtown towers popping up on a seemingly daily basis. A 35-story building awaits Googlers downtown, and huge operations by Tesla, Apple and Samsung are underway elsewhere in the market.

I know the key players in Austin. My extensive list of sources and professional relationships span two decades with developers, analysts and researchers in every sector of the real estate market, and with representatives of Austin's neighborhood and environmental groups known for their legendary battles with developers.

We're excited to offer this new opportunity for you to stay on top of the stories about how the Austin metroplex is changing and growing, and of the people and projects that are driving its transformation.

So now, along with all of the content on our main website — www.statesman.com —  our real estate-related articles will show up in your email inboxes every Tuesday at 1 p.m. You can sign up using this link, https://profile.statesman.com/newsletters/building-austin

More: 'Essential to prosperity': Why Austin-area demand for industrial space is soaring

The newsletter will be free to sign up for. However, you will need a subscription to www.statesman.com to access some of the stories linked within the newsletter. Your subscription to the American-Statesman will help support local journalism, the kind you need to make informed decisions at the polls — and in your daily lives.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Say hello to Building Austin, a new real estate-focused newsletter