Most Expensive Homes In North Texas

Here is the list of the most expensive home sales for 2011 in North Texas. Not surprisingly, the Park Cities (as Highland Park and University Park are collectively known) delivered 4 of the 10 most expensive sales, with the Preston Hollow area only accounting for two.

#10 - 1745 Turbeville Rd. (Hickory Creek)

List Price - $5.6M.

Sold Price - Not Disclosed

#9 - 4636 Chapel Hill (White Rock Lake)

List Price - $5.995M

Sold Price - Not Disclosed

#8 - 10340 Gaywood Rd. (Preston Hollow)

List Price - $6.495M

Sold Price - Not Disclosed

Only 26 days on the market!

#7 - 6900 Baltimore Dr. (Uber Swank Volk Estates in University Park)

List Price - $6.99M

Sold Price - $6.5M

Only last 14 days on the market!

#6 - 9338 Meadowbrook (Preston Hollow)

List Price - $6.795M

Sold Price - Not Disclosed

#5 - 6815 Baltimore Dr. (Volk Estates Lot in University Park)

List Price - 6.99M

Sold Price - $6.5M

Only 27 days on the market!

#4 - 3816 Turtle Creek Dr. (Private street that overlooks Turtle Creek)

List Price - $7.9M

Sold Price - Not Disclosed

#3 - 3711 Lexington Ave. (Highland Park)

List Price - $8.5M

Sold Price - Not Disclosed

Only 27 days on the market!

#2 - 3851 Windsor Ln. (Two Adjacent Lots in University Park)

List Price - $9.6M

Sold Price - Not Disclosed

#1 - 1850 Turbeville Rd. (Hickory Creek)

List Price - $15M

Sold Price - Not Disclosed

Want To Meet the True Top Producing Agents in the Park Cities and Preston Hollow? The Numbers Don't Lie

Over at Dallas Dirt Candy posted some production numbers for the Preston Hollow and Park Cities areas. To me her source's numbers were a little vague and didn't give the clear picture of who was doing what type of production. If you know me at all, you know I love me some numbers. I didn't look specifically at the companies but at the Top 50 producing agents. I find that just as interesting. So dig in, analyze, discuss. (Can you believe I came in above number 1? I needed my own line because I'm in a different league. This was so unexpected.)

Production in Park Cities and Preston Hollow only:

My Bad. Revised Park Cities Sales Stats

Turns out I didn't look very closely at the closing dates of the properties. Big thanks to Britt Fair for noticing there was not 1 closing in February on the CMA even though you can see I included the month of February in the search criteria up top. I just got off the phone with our MLS folks and apparently the term we use when you search for homes in Highland Park ISD was changed (there are 3 Highland Park ISD search terms in our MLS for some reason) which is why no closings showed up for the month of February. Completely my fault. Isn't technology fun? If I worked for a news station I would totally be fired. So here are the real 2008 sales stats. Lakewood and Preston Hollow stats were not affected.

Number of homes sold: 44 (60)
Avg. price/sf: $365.71 ($363.07)
Avg. sales price: $1,487,885 ($1,594,985)
Avg. days on market: 117 (75)

*2007 statistics for same time period in ( )

So that is only a 27% drop in number of homes sold and a 7% drop in price.

Park Cities Sales Stats Year-to-Date

Number of homes sold: 17 (60)
Avg. price/sf: $361.34 ($363.07)
Avg. sales price: $1,474,997 ($1,594,985)
Avg. days on market: 108 (75)

*2007 statistics for same time period in ( )

So far in 2008 only 17 homes have sold within HPISD. You know I'm not one for doom and gloom news but I'm shaking just getting out my calculator because it ain't gonna be pretty. That is a 72% decline in number of homes sold compared to the same time period one year ago. Please don't tell Steve Brown about this. Don't believe me? See 2007 here and 2008 here. And we even had one more day in February this year. Ouch! What gives? DOW got everyone down? Pun intended.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I realize that there will probably be a few closings that were not input into the MLS last Friday so I'm sure there will be a few that hit the MLS Monday and Tuesday. But it still won't be close to last year's numbers.

$10.8 Million New Construction in UP

I drive by this house everyday since it's a block away from my office and I have to say it catches my eye every time. But almost $11 million dollars? Granted it's got 12,500 square feet on a 100x230 lot in the Volk Estates area but that puts this home at a staggering $866 per sf! However, that's not too far off from a recent sale on Turtle Creek that was also new construction. According to the description this home boasts 2 prep kitchens, a billiards room, a 2,300 bottle wine vault (is that different than a wine room?) and an outdoor living area with a pizza oven. Sounds pretty cool. But seriously. $10.8 million smackers? I'll make sure to take a look at this one and get back to you with a report.

Oh, here's a virtual tour for you serious real estate voyeurs. Gotta love the classical musin in the background. Totally worth an extra $1 million or so, right?

University Park Makes Yet Another "Top" List

I'm pretty sure this list wasn't released back in August of 2007. (Whoops!) But in true Park Cities form University Park makes Forbes' list of America's Most Lucrative Cities where they picked the top neighborhoods from across the country whose median home sales prices has appreciated the most since 1990. UP's median home sales price, according to Forbes, was $672,573 in 2006 which puts their price growth at a whopping 253%. But it sure doesn't compare to the little piece of real estate at Riverside Drive And 149th Street in NY, NY which boasts a ho-hum (by New York standards) median sales price of $774,708. But price growth of 4,391%? Seriously? I bet they didn't check Volk Estates and streets like Vassar, Turtle Creek and Hunters Glen. (So the home on Hunters Glen didn't sell but a $17 million asking price is pretty impressive.)

University Park Sales Stats

My one and only DREB reader other than my mother, Jim, asked for some UP stats so here you go. Note: All of these numbers apply to homes over $1 million. There are currently 96 homes on the market over $1 million. Of the 46 homes on the market built after 2005 only 2 are resales and the other 44 have never been lived in or purchased.

Eight homes sold in November (only 1 built after 2005) which at that rate would take 11 months to deplete the current inventory on the market.

Now for some sales numbers year-over-year. I used median instead of averages since there can be some huge sales that can throw off the averages.

2005 - No. of homes sold: 108 over $1 million
Median sales price: $1.369 million
Median DOM: 50 days

2006 - No. of homes sold: 122 over $1 million
Median sales price: $1.399 million
Median DOM: 30 days

2007 - No. of homes sold: 146 over $1 million
Median sales price: $1.498 million
Median DOM: 40 days

In 2005, 16 homes built that same year sold. In 2006, 16 homes built that same year sold. Currently in 2007 only 10 homes built this year have sold. (And we know there are at least 7 homes still on the market built in 2006)

So what does this mean for the UP market? The good news is 26% more homes over $1 million have sold this year than in 2005 and the median sales price has increased by 9% since 2005. Some people might be wondering where the double digit price appreciation is? My explanation would be since there is a large number of homes for buyers to choose from and more homes selling each year, the supply is keeping demand down which keeps prices from sky rocketing. Is that a good thing? Probably. Just as long as supply doesn't get so large demand diminishes far enough to start pushing prices down.