See Latest Heights Million Dollar Homes
Heights Area Million Dollar Home Sales
The "Heights" has gotten to be a pricey neighborhood. Even million dollar home sales are fairly common and have have averaged about 50/year over the last 3 years (49 in 2014, 45 in 2015 and 56 in 2016). The second half of 2016 had 23 sales of homes list at $1 million dollars or more. It was slower than the start of the year though when 33 homes sold for a million dollars or more. See my similar post on Heights Luxury Homes, 2014.
Description | Price Range | House SF | Lot Size | Price/SF | SP/LP* |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
*LP/SP = Ratio of List Price to Sales Price | |||||
Sold in 2nd Half 2016 23 Homes $M+ | $1.00M-$1.60 M $1.28M Avg. | 3280-4766 SF 3946 SF Avg. | 5000-8100 SF 7100 SF Avg. | $277-$364/SF $311/SF Avg. | 0.96 |
18 Available $1 Million Homes | $1.0M-$2.8M $1.31M Avg. | 3300-6814 SF 4178 SF Avg. | 5000-9900 SF 6600 SF Avg. | $249-$411/SF $321/SF | N/A |
These homes are mostly new or built in the last few years. About 20% of them are fantastically remodeled original Heights homes. Either way though, new or old, they predominantly keep the Heights-style exterior, but richly detailed interiors with all modern conveniences.
For details on the attached table see the attached pdf: Market Analysis of Heights Million Dollar Homes.
Another thing million dollar homes have in common are wide lots. Standard width lots in the Heights are 50 feet. Deed restricted Woodland Heights lots are typically 50 by 100 feet. This is a premier location, so big homes on 5000 ft lots are common here. There are no alleys, so porte-cocheres are common on new homes to allow the side driveway.
Houston Heights lots are generally 50 x 132 feet and have alley access for the garage in back. If not deed restricted (i.e. historic district lots cannot be subdivided) these lots can be split in half. Thus, most new homes are built on 25 ft wide lots, so they are more affordable.
When land prices jumped up a few years ago, it forced up prices for all homes. The average new home in the Heights now sells for over $650K. These are homes built on narrow (25 ft wide) lots. Homes on 50 ft wide lots are obviously going to be more expensive. Land is ~$60-$80/SF, so doubling land cost would add another $200K to the cost of homes on big lots. Also, if you start with a bigger lot, you are going to build a bigger home...thus the million dollar house.
The term "Heights" always needs defining. My Interactive Heights Area Map shows most of the Height areas: Houston Heights, Woodland Heights, Norhill, Sunset Heights and Brooke Smith are the largest, but there are lost of smaller neighborhoods. The term Greater Heights adds confusion to this by lumping in areas west of Shepherd.