High Prices Meet High Demand In Houston, ‘The Most Interesting Condo Market...

[DCReid]

...Those developers and other market watchers say well-off empty nesters are fueling significant demand for luxury, single-floor condominiums in Houston. Meanwhile, affluent younger entrants are entering the fray, heightening competition to secure the best floor plans in pricey new projects before costs rise further. ...Houston has fewer than 100 new high-rise luxury condominium units available — about a third of the typical availability even in much smaller cities...Houston had 1,182 total active condo listings in March, according to Redfin, more aligned with much smaller cities like Nashville, which had 1,069 condo listings in March. Chicago, with a comparable population, had 4,874...Mid- and high-rise condos made up less than 1% of Greater Houston’s market last year...

https://www.bisnow.com/houston/news/...country-124306

[C.]

Originally Posted by DCReid

...Those developers and other market watchers say well-off empty nesters are fueling significant demand for luxury, single-floor condominiums in Houston. Meanwhile, affluent younger entrants are entering the fray, heightening competition to secure the best floor plans in pricey new projects before costs rise further. ...Houston has fewer than 100 new high-rise luxury condominium units available — about a third of the typical availability even in much smaller cities...Houston had 1,182 total active condo listings in March, according to Redfin, more aligned with much smaller cities like Nashville, which had 1,069 condo listings in March. Chicago, with a comparable population, had 4,874...Mid- and high-rise condos made up less than 1% of Greater Houston’s market last year...

https://www.bisnow.com/houston/news/...country-124306

Paywalled. Maybe they can recruit some of the Toronto developers to start building more.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by C.

Paywalled. Maybe they can recruit some of the Toronto developers to start building more.

Oh please please please PPPLLLEEEEEEZZZZZZ!!! Houston could use some Tronno-style architecture.

[bilbao58]

Comparing Houston and Chicago because their populations are “comparable” (not really) is just stupid. Might as well compare San Antonio with Manhattan because of “comparable” populations.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

Comparing Houston and Chicago because their populations are “comparable” (not really) is just stupid. Might as well compare San Antonio with Manhattan because of “comparable” populations.

Chicago is obviously a much more densely populated city, but the comparison made sense to me in the context that it was given in the article. The article also explained that Houston has a humongous footprint -- such as Houston metro being bigger than New Jersey -- which left it with much more to grow to the size that it did with mostly single-family housing.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Chicago is obviously a much more densely populated city, but the comparison made sense to me in the context that it was given in the article. The article also explained that Houston has a humongous footprint -- such as Houston metro being bigger than New Jersey -- which left it with much more to grow to the size that it did with mostly single-family housing.

I’m kind of touchy about Chicago and Houston comparisons based on population. I don’t think Houston, which is my hometown, will ever “grow up” to be a Chicago. Shoot, I still bristle at Los Angeles being #2.

ETA: When Houston proper’s population finally catches up to Chicago’s, there are going to be a lot of boastful Houstonians embarrassing themselves. Or at least embarrassing me.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

I’m kind of touchy about Chicago and Houston comparisons based on population. I don’t think Houston, which is my hometown, will ever “grow up” to be a Chicago. Shoot, I still bristle at Los Angeles being #2.

Yeah, I think it was more of a market size comparison. Those are two similarly sized markets, but one is producing a lot fewer condos than the other. One could argue that Houston should produce a lot more condos than Chicago since it has so much more space.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Yeah, I think it was more of a market size comparison. Those are two similarly sized markets, but one is producing a lot fewer condos than the other. One could argue that Houston should produce a lot more condos than Chicago since it has so much more space.

But they're not similarly sized markets... even if only comparing populations. Chicago's metro has 2 1/2 million more people than Houston's. And comparing them without considering population is still comparing apples to oranges. A market's size is based on demand, not on how many warm bodies are within a 20 mile radius.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

But they're not similarly sized markets... even if only comparing populations. Chicago's metro has 2 1/2 million more people than Houston's. And comparing them without considering population is still comparing apples to oranges.

The submarkets are similarly sized.

Originally Posted by bilbao58

A market's size is based on demand, not on how many warm bodies are within a 20 mile radius.

Mmm... Respectfully, I don't agree. We too often brush off differences in our cities built forms because of "demand", but the forms of our cities are mostly policy driven. I doubt Houston's growth success is because it built a lot of detached single-family houses. I think Houston's success is because it was able to build a lot of housing units period. I also think inability to build housing is why a lot of other cities stumbled so hard.

[bilbao58]

Edited: Never mind. I haven’t read the article so I don’t know what its author is saying.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by C.

Paywalled. Maybe they can recruit some of the Toronto developers to start building more.

Technically it's not paywalled; it's just "free registration" walled. Which is still annoying but not quite as annoying lol.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

Maybe we're talking different markets? I'm thinking of high-rise condo markets. Are you maybe thinking housing markets in general?

Yeah, for market I mean the number of available buyers in a particular area. So if you have 2.8 million people in a defined area, presumably you'll have similar numbers of people that could be buyers. Theoretically, if all things were equal, the preference of buyers for property type would be similar too. So it could be that something about Houston is skewing people away from condos more than Chicago, or it could be that there just aren't condos available in Houston. I think that's the reason they pointed out that Chicago and Houston have similar populations.

[sentinel]

Considering what is happening in Houston the past few days, and how '500 year storms' are becoming 'every 2-3 year storms', and also considering that insurers will eventually clear out just like they are in south Florida, I don't see how Houston is a long-term sustainable high-rise housing market, especially with climate change effects becoming stronger year after year with no relief in sight.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by sentinel

Considering what is happening in Houston the past few days, and how '500 year storms' are becoming 'every 2-3 year storms', and also considering that insurers will eventually clear out just like they are in south Florida, I don't see how Houston is a long-term sustainable high-rise housing market, especially with climate change effects becoming stronger year after year with no relief in sight.

I’ve thought for years that if energy prices make driving cars too expensive and, even more so, make air conditioning unaffordable, Texas would lose about 20 million people in one month. Most likely that month would be August.

[DCReid]

Originally Posted by sentinel

Considering what is happening in Houston the past few days, and how '500 year storms' are becoming 'every 2-3 year storms', and also considering that insurers will eventually clear out just like they are in south Florida, I don't see how Houston is a long-term sustainable high-rise housing market, especially with climate change effects becoming stronger year after year with no relief in sight.

NY Times Daily just had a podcast that stated insurers are barely profitable and are pulling out of many areas besides the obvious high climate risk ones like Houston. It said many are pulling out of small midwestern towns because of the more frequent tornados. The article speculated that sometime in the future, insurance will become so expensive everywhere that there may have to be government sponsored programs. Florida already has a state sponsored insurance program because so many insurers quite the state. I've read that many are also quitting CA.

[JManc]

I paid almost $7,000 on homeowners insurance on our house this year. It's insane and will be a major barrier for homeownership for young people and those of modest means. Unless the government intervenes and they probably should.

This is addition to rising property taxes but as for the high rise condo market here, the demand just isn't there compared to similarly sized cities . It's not like there's anything really interesting to look out at.

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Yeah, I think it was more of a market size comparison. Those are two similarly sized markets, but one is producing a lot fewer condos than the other. One could argue that Houston should produce a lot more condos than Chicago since it has so much more space.

When I look at the city, especially the inner city, it looks like high rise condos and apartment buildings all over the place (e.g., Uptown, Greenway, Upper Kirby, Allen Parkway, Museum District). It's impressive to me. But not Toronto, for sure. And not enough. The occupancy is apparently high because the supply doesn't meet the demand. I know more are under construction now.

I've visited people in a couple of them, and the views from the higher floors are great, because there are so many high rises to see in general in the city, and because there are so many trees.