Heights Price Trends

Heights home prices have a lot of variables of course, but the two big decisions a buyer has to make are location and new vs. old. After you narrow down the location you have to chose between new (or at least built in last 10 years or so) or old. New is typically tall and skinny on small lots; old is smaller, but on big lot. Below are some some charts on price trends in the Heights. Deciding on old vs new/recent may be a difficult choice for some of you. Here is an old post I did comparing Old vs. New. The post is several years old and prices don’t relate, but the comparison is still valid.

Resale Home Prices

Home prices are complicated.

Recently Sold Heights Bungalow Recently Sold Bungalow

Each area has different lot sizes and differing levels of desirability.
Woodland Heights and the core area of Houston Heights are the most sought after. The areas nearer the edges, i.e. Heights Annex, Sunset Heights, Brooke Smith are not as pricey. So, in looking at prices be sure to compare apples to apples.

Renovated Heights Home

The table below  gives prices for resale homes – not new homes or even recent homes. These are all older homes that have been remodeled. These are mostly Victorians and Craftsman bungalows from the 1910’s and 1930’s. I deleted most of the newer homes because they generally were built on smaller lots (2 houses where previously there was one).

Houston Heights Homes-Resale 1st Q 2015
Description Price Range House SF Lot Size Price/SF DOM* SP/LP**
1 Bath Homes $335K-$530K 966-1602 SF 4356-6600 SF $287-$469/SF 14 1
Avg. $420.4K 1170 SF 5372 SF $359/SF
2 Bath Homes $452K-$990K 1358-2534 SF 4300-7836 SF $255-$347/SF 28 0.99
Avg. $677K 2186 SF 6176 SF $310/SF
* DOM = Days on Mkt. **LP/SP = Ratio of List Price to Sales Price

I don’t expect any softening of prices with the oil price slump, but I do expect the last two columns to change. Days on Market should slowly edge back toward historical 90 days; and the ratio of list price to sold prices should drop a little (96%-97% were the norm in years past).

 

New Home Prices on Small Lots

Heights style New Home with Porch

New home prices can’t all be lumped together; they have to be sorted by land size and location. In the suburbs the difference in home prices isn’t affected much by lot size. If you have a lot 3000 SF bigger than your neighbor’s its only $3/SF more, so no big deal. In the Heights where land is $50-$80/SF, a big lot makes a huge difference in price. For this reason I have sorted out new construction homes on full sized lots (4500+ SF) from those with smaller lots. Other homes written about in other posts.

 

New Homes on Small Lots (2500 -3500 SF lots).

Houston Heights New Home Prices – 1st Q 2015
Description Price Range House SF Lot Size Price/SF SP/LP*
Sold in 1st Q $607K-$931K 2470-3042 SF *** $216-$306/SF 1.01
$684K Avg. 2668 SF Avg. 3238 SF Avg. $256/SF Avg.
*LP/SP = Ratio of List Price to Sales Price

A couple of notes about table above.
Homes on smaller lots typically are of two styles:

  • Garage-front: If there is no alley access, then the home is normally front-loading. There is no alley access for the garage, and the lot is too narrow to allow a driveway. Thus the only option is for the garage to face the street and the house be built above and behind it.
  • Porch-front: If there is an alley behind the house, then a typical “Heights style” home can be built…porches in front; detached garage behind.

When buying, one of the options you have is bigger homes on smaller lots (the homes discussed here), or smaller old homes on big lots.

There are no mass builders at this price point. There were 3 big homes sold in 1st Q and 21 on the market or being built now. These 24 homes were built by 17 builders…thus 1 or 2 homes is typically all a builder is making in this price range.

One other thing worth noting:  The average price per SF ($310/SF) is the same for new homes. This has historically been true. Prices are equivalent for gorgeous remodels and for new homes (with location and lot sizes being equal).

Big New Homes on Large Lots

Big New Heights Home by HDT Builders

The table below shows early 2015 prices of these big homes, pricing starting at $1M. The Heights has never been a location for high density homes. As land prices continue to escalate though more homes are being built in communities with a common drive. Less land cost means lower prices. Some high end condos are being built too. These are typically built around the edges of the Heights.

Houston Heights New Home Prices – 1st Q 2015
*LP/SP = Ratio of List Price to Sales Price
Description Price Range House SF Lot Size Price/SF SP/LP*
Sold in 1st Q $1.25M-$1.36M 3616-4257 SF 6600 SF $294-$342/SF 1
$1.31M Avg. 3952 SF Avg. 6600 SF Avg. $331/SF Avg.
Available $775K-$1.65M 2619-4265 SF 5000-6600 SF $296-$406/SF N/A
New Homes $1.2M Avg. 3564 SF Avg. 6056 SF Avg. $310/SF

Prices for Land

Land prices have doubled over the last couple of years. $80/SF is not uncommon in parts of Houston Heights and Woodland Heights. Even Sunset Heights is $55-$60/SF. This is very popular for new homes. Brooke Smith used to be very affordable, but $50/SF is about the going rate now.

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If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at 713 868-9008

Hot Heights Market

Filed in Heights Price Trends by on May 1, 2013
Hot Heights Market

Hot Heights Market This is the title of the Chronicle’s  Neighborhood section  “Ultimate Heights” last week. A page and and half was devoted to an interview with Heights Realtor, Rich Martin (yours truly) describing the current Heights market. I described how home sales are up 20-25% over last year. More importantly though, the days on […]

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Heights Home Prices

Filed in Heights Price Trends by on April 23, 2013
Heights Home Prices

  Heights Home Prices The table below was excerpted from the yearly Chronicle report on Neighborhood Price trends. It shows Heights home prices. My previous post covered prices on these other neighborhoods: Oak Forest, Garden Oaks, Lindale Park, Shady Acres, Cottage Grove, Shepherd Park Plaza, Mangum Manor, Timbergrove Manor & Lazybrook. The Heights is a […]

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2012 Neighborhood Price Trends

Filed in Heights Price Trends by on April 19, 2013
2012 Neighborhood Price Trends

Neighborhood Price Trends The Houston Chronicle just released it’s annual Price Trends Survey of 2012 for Houston home sales. The link allows you to search by part of town, subdivision name etc. So if you are interested in other parts of town, check out the Chronicle. I live in the Heights and sell homes here […]

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Heights Home Sales-November YTD

Filed in Heights Price Trends by on December 28, 2012
Heights Home Sales-November YTD

Heights Home Sales Remain Very Strong Heights home prices are up and inventory is down.  Heights home inventory is so low that I’ve had to show homes the day they come on the market in order to get offers in ahead of others. Location is still key of course, but the toughest homes to find […]

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Heights Home Sales

Filed in Heights Price Trends by on October 22, 2012
Heights Home Sales

Heights Home Sales Chart Home sales in the Heights have been booming for several months now. The cute, clean, nicely updated homes sell quickly. If it’s beautifully redone and you love it, you’d better make an offer quickly. I have several clients who look at homes the first day they come on market. They have […]

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Heights Home Sales-Update

Filed in Heights Price Trends by on August 6, 2012
Heights Home Sales-Update

Heights Home Sales Boom Heights home sales are booming. Houston is a hot relocation center now for oil & energy related companies, and the Heights/Inner Loop  is where a lot of them want to be. I would say about 1/3 of my sales this year came from energy people. I don’t know what else is […]

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Heights Lots For Sale

Filed in Heights Price Trends by on January 30, 2012
Heights Lots For Sale

Heights Lots For Sale Mid 2014 Note: This is a two year old post. Prices have since doubled and land is nearly impossible to find. It does give you an idea of how things have changed in such a short period. See my page on Houston Heights for info on the Heights and more recent […]

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Houston Heights Homes Sales Down

Filed in Heights Price Trends by on November 22, 2010
Houston Heights Homes Sales Down

Houston Heights Homes Sales Compared to Houston Metro Houston Home Sales Stay in Basement is lead of Chronicle story on Nov 16, 2010: Houston-area home sales plunged last month compared with a year earlier when a federal homebuyer tax credit helped boost activity in the housing market. October marked the fourth straight month of double-digit […]

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Houston Heights Homes Sales are Strong

Filed in Heights Price Trends by on June 7, 2010
Houston Heights Homes Sales are Strong

The Houston Association of Realtors (HAR.com) reported Houston home sales up again for April. Sales were up about 25% over April of last year. Their conclusion was that the increase is due to the effects of the First Time Homebuyer Credit, and seasonal effects (Spring, early summer are always good sales months). I won’t say […]

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Houston Close-In Neighborhood Price Trends – Part 2

Filed in Heights Price Trends by on April 19, 2010
Houston Close-In Neighborhood Price Trends – Part 2

Neighborhood Price Trends for Close in Neighborhoods See Part 1 of Houston Subdivision Price Trends where price trends of Houston Heights homes were covered. Considering buying or selling a Heights home? Check out the previous post. This data was taken from the yearly Houston Chronicle Subdivision price trends supplement which came out 04/11/10. I look forward to […]

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