Earlier this month we attended the spring edition of Dr. Robert Gilmer’s twice-a-year regional forecasting luncheon sponsored by the University of Houston’s Bauer College of Business. The past two years have not been kind to Houston, as the city has slowed to no-growth for two years. Other details gleaned from Dr. Gilmer’s talk:
• We have probably put behind us the worst downturn ever for American oil.
• The American economy continues to grow at a healthy rate.
• The East Side petrochemical building boom along the Houston Ship Channel is over.
• All forward momentum from the fracking boom is now lost, and it can only be rebuilt slowly.
Over all, the news for Houston was not great, though the take-away seemed to be that we have weathered the worst. As oil prices rose this spring, optimism has returned to the oil market.
Part of Dr. Gilmer’s talk spotlighted Houston-area housing starts and sales, including The Woodlands, South Houston, Memorial/the Energy Corridor, close-in and upscale (e.g. Rice Military, Heights) and distant suburbs (e.g. Sugar Land, Kingwood and Katy).
One neighborhood not addressed in specific terms was River Oaks.
That’s where we come in. As real estate agents with Greenwood King Properties, we closely track sales of houses and lots in River Oaks, Avalon Place, Royden Oaks and Oak Estates. The chart below shows what has sold in the neighborhood January 1 through last week.
The chart below shows the River Oaks sales at all price levels for single-family houses only. In other words, there are no house sales shown for January 2017 because all the sales were for lots or tear-downs. Interesting statistic: For all the 2017 sales in River Oaks priced at $2 million or less, more than 75% were for demolition.
