Keeping Up With the Joneses

Dallas million-dollar home sales clock in at double-digit growth

Luxury home sales are up all over Texas — in Dallas, especially. According to the Texas Association of Realtors, Dallas-Fort Worth saw the second largest increase in sales volume in the state compared to 2013 for homes priced $1 million and up.

From January to October of last year, North Texans purchased 926 luxury homes, which was a 15 percent increase over 2013, when sales were relatively placid.

Overall, luxury homes made up just 1.2 percent of the area’s total housing market, but the region has 10.2 months of inventory for the pricey palaces, compared to 2.6 months overall. Still, luxury inventory shrank by 1.2 months as more people move to Texas with money in their pockets.

Jim Gaines, an economist at the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, says that the luxury housing market proved to be one of the top segments of housing last year because Texas is a hot destination for new residents, particularly from California.

“We saw a lot of people moving to Texas from places like California, where a modest two-bedroom condo can be valued upwards of $1 million,” Gaines said in a release. “Those people sell their home in California, move to Texas and realize their money goes much further in our market.

“Thus, even if they don’t have an income typical of a luxury homeowner, they have assets to purchase luxury homes and are stimulating that market.”

Around Texas, Houston came in ahead of Dallas-Fort Worth in sheer volume of luxury home sales (1,194), although that was only a 13 percent increase from 2013. San Antonio won the percentage game at 26, but that represents only 107 luxury homes and 0.4 percent of the overall market.

Austin’s growth was in the single digits: 9 percent. Its luxury market had the highest share of the overall at 2 percent, however.

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Million-dollar homes

Multi-million-dollar gated home community The Preserve rises in Frisco

Preserve

A palace on the prairie of The Preserve in Frisco

Construction has begun on a multi-million-dollar custom home community in Frisco. Called The Preserve, it's situated among PGA Frisco’s championship golf courses and near the Omni PGA Frisco Resort, with multiple phases that will roll out over the next few years.

The Preserve is part of Fields, a 2,500-acre development in North Frisco off the Dallas North Tollway. Fields is co-developed and owned in partnership with The Karahan Companies, Hunt Realty Investments alongside investors Chief Partners and Cross Tie Capital.

The development will feature retail, dining, entertainment, hotels, corporate offices, native Texas plants, flowers, trees, and 250 acres of park space. It's designed by the same team responsible for Plano’s Legacy West, led by Fehmi Karahan.

Phase 1 of The Preserve will feature 233 homes crafted by 10 North Texas luxury homebuilders: Alford Homes, Coats Homes, and Starside Builders have all begun home construction. The other seven are The Preserve Bella Custom Homes, Endurance Homes, Faulkner Perrin Custom Homes, Hawkins-Welwood Homes, Shaddock Custom Builders & Developers, Sharif & Munir Custom Homes, and Ventura Custom Homes, for whom construction will start soon.

The Preserve Frisco The Preserve in Frisco, soon to be covered with homes.The Preserve

Lot sizes range from 6,800 square feet to more than an acre. Home design options will incorporate high ceilings, open floor plans, glass walls, and seamless transitions between indoor and outdoor such as patios, infinity pools, and landscaped exteriors.

The surrounding area will have more than 2,000 new trees plus views delivered via design elements such as floor-to-ceiling windows and expansive outdoor living areas.

Many of the homes will address sustainability, health, and wellness with green architecture, energy efficiency, water conservation, and recycled building materials.

It will combine the privacy of a gated community with resort-style living, featuring amenities such as the PGA golf courses, 20+ miles of hike and bike trails, and the exclusive Brookside Club with an expansive swimming pool, state-of-the-art fitness center, tennis and pickleball courts and a playground.

Prices will start at $3,500,000.

Hunt Realty SVP Todd Watson calls it one of the most anticipated mixed-use projects in the area -- æa perfect location for discerning buyers seeking their forever home or a secondary residence" — although he's involved with the project so he's probably biased.

“As part of the Fields development, with prominent neighbors like PGA of America and the Omni PGA Frisco Resort, we know The Preserve will be one of the most sought-after addresses in North Texas," Watson says.

According to the Frisco Economic Development Corporation, Frisco’s population has increased by 500 percent in two decades and was recently recognized as the fastest growing city in Texas and third across the U.S.

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