HOUSTON – River Oaks, an 1,100-acre community of mansions and landscaped estates located west of downtown Houston, ranked as the city’s most expensive neighborhood last year, according to the Realty News Report Houston Luxe List Home Price Survey, produced by Crawford Realty Advisors.
River Oaks, with a whopping 2013 median price of $401.43 per square foot or $1.53 million per home, experienced a 10.8 percent in home prices, up from $362.27 per square foot a year earlier, according to the Houston Luxe List.
In the 1920s, when development of River Oaks began, lot prices were $2,200. Today, its most expensive for-sale listing is a six-bedroom, 16,000-square-foot mansion priced at $15,995,000.
“With its great architecture, exquisite landscaping and a prestigious reputation built over decades, it’s no surprise that River Oaks mansions are commanding Houston’s top home prices and leading the Luxe List,” said Ralph Bivins, editor of Houston-based Realty News Report.
“River Oaks is amazing. The lack of inventory has made every single property that comes on the market truly a treasure,” said Cheri Fama, president of John Daugherty Realtors, which is very active in River Oaks realty.
The Realty News Report Houston Luxe List Price Survey of 2014, produced by Crawford Realty Advisors, was based on recorded sales prices of transactions finalized in 2013.
“The Houston economy is strong and the inventory of homes on the market has been very tight,” said housing analyst Evert Crawford of Houston-based Crawford Realty Advisors. “Home prices in these upper-end neighborhoods rose significantly in 2013 and that trend will continue.”
Many of the neighborhoods in the Realty News Report Luxe List were located near the Inner Loop communities of River Oaks and West University Place. Several neighborhoods in the Memorial area were on the Luxe List.
Realty News Report’s Luxe List of 2014
| Neighborhood | Median Price Per Square Foot | Median Price |
| RIVER OAKS* | $401.43 | $1,532,500 |
| SOUTHAMPTON PLACE* | $341.39 | $958,852 |
| ROYDEN OAKS* | $338.00 | $1,574,700 |
| OAK ESTATES* | $336.30 | $1,593,813 |
| WEST UNIVERSITY PLACE* | $334.45 | $1,483,500 |
| TANGLEWOOD ** | $331.73 | $1,338,775 |
| AVALON PLACE* | $329.54 | $1,251,500 |
| RICE COURT* | $327.13 | $902,600 |
| MONTICELLO* | $323.53 | $898,000 |
| GLEN COVE* | $323.30 | $1,450,000 |
| CRESTWOOD* | $318.82 | $1,372,500 |
| SUNSET TERRACE* | $307.85 | $1,312,000 |
| SOUTHSIDE PLACE* | $304.57 | $1,082,500 |
| WOODSON PLACE* | $302.16 | $585,000 |
| COLLEGEVIEW* | $301.05 | $810,000 |
| SOUTHGATE* | $300.64 | $693,000 |
| COLONIAL TERRACE* | $293.86 | $932,245 |
| FROSTWOOD** | $288.66 | $877,750 |
| AFTON OAKS* | $287.75 | $723,000 |
| MEMORIAL FOREST** | $286.80 | $820,500 |
Source: Crawford Realty Advisors, Realty News Report
*Inner Loop
** Memorial area
Luxe List Developers:
Crawford Realty Advisors, which specializes in economic studies and real estate analysis, is led by Evert Crawford, former Director of the Hobby Center for Public Policy Institute for Regional Forecasting at the University of Houston.
RealtyNewsReport.com is an online publication founded by Ralph Bivins, a Texas-based journalist and a former president of the National Association of Real Estate Editors.