Summer Real Estate Update

Houston Real Estate Market Update

HALF TIME REPORT 2019

By David M. Young, Broker Associate, John Daugherty Realtors 713-320-6453 david@youngrealtyhouston.com

T he Houston residential real estate

market has registered record sales in the months of February to May this year, with our higher end (over $750k) leading the way. Despite record sales, many homes continue to sit on the market due to higher inventory levels in many areas, including the Inner Loop, Heights and Energy Corridor.

According to the Houston Association of Realtors: “Sales of single-family homes increased 2.8 percent in May, with 8,346 homes sold compared to 8,117 in May 2018. On a year-to-date basis, home sales are running 2.7 percent ahead of 2018’s record pace. The prices of a single-family home reached historic highs in May. The median price rose 2.4 percent to $249,993 and the average price climbed 5.8 percent to $323,023. The last pricing highs were reached almost a year ago, in June 2018.”

Since the market is doing so well, why isn’t my home selling? It all comes down to location, condition and price. If a home borders a busy street or commercial property, it will almost always take longer to sell. If a home needs updating, repairs or is not staged well, then buyers may not get excited about it or see too many dollars to invest after closing. If a home is priced higher than other competing homes, it may not even get showings until its price comes in line with other properties.

But even when a home is in a prime location in the neighborhood, is in excellent condition and is priced competitively, it may sit on the market for many months waiting for the right buyer. We have a lot of buyers in the market, but we also have a lot of homes on the market, so there are lots of choices for buyers right now.

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Most expensive: 2930 Lazy Lane

Here are some statistics on several of our major micromarkets, showing 2019 YTD sales of single family homes as of June 28, and highlighting the highest sale so far this year. River Oaks

30 homes sold averaging $3,826,660 ($597/SF) and 134 days on market (DOM)

2930 Lazy Lane - $15,680,000 ($1,479/SF) – 234 DOM – 10,599 SF house on 228,020 SF lot built 1950 Memorial Villages

54 homes sold averaging $1,926,324 ($362/SF) and 145 DOM

25 Greyton Lane - $5,250,000 ($66/ SF) - 188 DOM - 11,265 SF house on 48,082 SF lot built 2013 Tanglewood

21 homes sold averaging $2,218,095 ($386/SF) and 288 DOM

5510 Tupper Lake - $4,550,000 ($654/SF) – 285 DOM – 6,959 SF house on 44,383 SF lot built 1993 West University Place

75 homes sold averaging $1,339,650 ($401/SF) and 76 DOM

2819 University Blvd - $3,150,000 ($411/SF) – 202

DOM – 7,670 SF house on 14,000 SF lot built 2007 Briargrove

24 homes sold averaging $1,106,224 ($327/SF) and 100 DOM

6213 Briar Rose - $2,300,000 ($357/SF) – 22 DOM – 6,450 SF house on 9,727 SF lot built 2015 Heights

(77008 east of Shepherd, south of 20th)

120 homes sold averaging $769,512 ($323/SF) and 97 DOM

635 E 12th St - $2,100,000 ($410/ SF) – 6 DOM - 5,127 SF house on 9,375 SF lot built 2014

Bridgewood Quietly Building Scale One At a Time

Bridgewood Property Company, a Houston based company has quietly become a regional force in senior living with a “steady as she goes” approach to development and operations.

Since its founding, Bridgewood’s founder and president, Jim Gray has developed 34 communities. Bridgewood’s current portfolio now consists of 22 properties in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, totaling 2,600 independent living, assisted living and memory care units, which are managed by Bridgewood’s in-house operator, Retirement Center Management (RCM).

Gray is “baffled” by the pace at which some senior living markets are being flooded with product and is committed to Bridgewood’s careful approach — still, the company has ramped up in recent years, starting to grow through acquisition for the first time.

“We don’t want to be the biggest operator,” Gray said. “We just want to be the best.”

Gray got his start in real estate at Trammell Crow Company, a legendary Dallas-based real estate brokerage and developer that is now a subsidiary of CBRE, the largest real estate services and investment firm in the world.

Gray left Trammell Crow in 1997 to form Cypress Senior Living, focusing strictly on independent living, and ultimately built a portfolio of 2,250 units across the Midwest and Southeast before selling Cypress to Chartwell Retirement Residences (TSX: CSH-UN), Canada’s largest senior housing operator, in 2006. Building scale, one community at a time

Gray regrouped by forming Bridgewood and RCM, focusing on higher-end, ground-up developments. The typical size of a Bridgewood community is around 200 units.

The company undergoes a lengthy site selection and entitlement process, Gray told Senior Housing News. “We build one community at a time,” he said. “There is a lot of product being built in some markets, which is baffling to me.”

Development accounts for the majority of Bridgewood’s portfolio, but the company has added acquisition to its strategy in recent years and has added five communities in the past three years through purchases.

Bridgewood’s newest development, The Village of Southampton, offers high-rise luxury senior living in the iconic Southampton neighborhood of West University in Houston. The Village location is blocks from the Rice Village shopping and dining district, Rice University and the Texas Medical Center. The 203-unit continuing care community is scheduled to open Spring 2020 with 50% of the independent living units already pre-leased.

Bridgewood Property Company co-developed The Village at The Triangle, a CCRC in Austin, Texas. The Village at the Triangle was awarded “Best CCRC Design” in the 2018 Senior Housing News Architecture and Design Awards.

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