Highest Household Income Neighborhoods in the DFW Metroplex

According to the 2010 U.S. Census

Highest Household Income Neighborhoods in the Metroplex

1: Westlake (Westlake)
Mean Household Income: $526,590, Higley 1000 #12

2: Greenway Parks (Dallas)
Mean Household Income: $511,549, Higley 1000 #15

3: Westover Hills (Westover Hills)
Mean Household Income: $385,047, Higley 1000 #69

4: Old Preston Hollow (Dallas)
Mean Household Income: $338,351, Higley 1000 #158

5: Bluffview West (Dallas)
Mean Household Income: $335,935, Higley 1000 #168

6: Highland Park (Highland Park)
Mean Household Income: $330,032, Higley 1000 #188

7: Oak Tree (Dallas)
Mean Household Income: $327,123, Higley 1000 #204

8: Volk Estates-Windsor Place (University Park)
Mean Household Income: $323,486, Higley 1000 #218

9: Stratford Manor-Armstrong Fairway (University Park)
Mean Household Income: $322,282, Higley 1000 #224

10: Northaven Park (Dallas)
Mean Household Income: $313,955, Higley 1000 #251

11: Preston Hollow (Dallas)
Mean Household Income: $310,471, Higley 1000 #269

12: LakeSide on Preston (Plano)
Mean Household Income: $306,168, Higley 1000 #286

13: Willow Bend (Plano)
Mean Household Income: $304,801, Higley 1000 #296

14: Preston Royal (Dallas)
Mean Household Income: $304,679, Higley 1000 #299

15: Lakewood (Dallas)
Mean Household Income: $301,825, Higley 1000 #320

16: Bent Tree-Oakdale (Dallas)
Mean Household Income: $298,930, Higley 1000 #333

17: Timarron (Southlake)
Mean Household Income: $298,068, Higley 1000 #336

18: Timberlake-Princeton Park (Southlake)
Mean Household Income: $286,828, Higley 1000 #418

19: Bella Lago-River Hills (Flower Mound)
Mean Household Income: $281,696, Higley 1000 #456

20: Brook Meadows-Brighton Oaks (Colleyville)
Mean Household Income: $278,204, Higley 1000 #488

21: Cheyenne Village-Starwood West (Frisco)
Mean Household Income: $277,646, Higley 1000 #495

22: Russwood Acres (Dallas)
Mean Household Income: $275,175, Higley 1000 #523

23: Versailles-Cambridge Place (Southlake)
Mean Household Income: $271,015, Higley 1000 #566

24: University Heights-University Hills (University Park)
Mean Household Income: $266,284, Higley 1000 #620

25: Rivercrest Country Club (Fort Worth)
Mean Household Income: $265,238, Higley 1000 #632

26: Starwood East-Sterling Ranch (Frisco)
Mean Household Income: $265,076, Higley 1000 #635

27: Kings Ridge-Schoal Creek West (Plano)
Mean Household Income: $262,018, Higley 1000 #667

28: Stonebriar North (Frisco)
Mean Household Income: $261,486, Higley 1000 #676

29: Preston Trail Golf Club-Bent Tree Country Club (Dallas)
Mean Household Income: $260,066, Higley 1000 #700

30: Gentle Creek Country Club-Whitley Place (Prosper)
Mean Household Income: $255,529, Higley 1000 #766

31: The Dominion-Highland Oaks (Southlake)
Mean Household Income: $247,070, Higley 1000 #878

32: Denham Village-Whiffletree (Plano)
Mean Household Income: $245,842, Higley 1000 #896

33: Mansfield South (Mansfield)
Mean Household Income: $242,732, Higley 1000 #960

34: Bedford (Bedford)
Mean Household Income: $241,303, Higley 1000 #987

35: Loma Linda-Preston Place (University Park)
Mean Household Income: $240,133, Higley 1000 #998

Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge Dallas Texas

“The Bridge to Nowhere”

The naysayers proclaimed at one time that the proposed Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge at a cost of $93 million was simply a bridge to nowhere.  West Dallas was some of the worst slums in the city.   But the city of Dallas had vision, and today the area that once had some of the worst crime is being transformed into the newest hot spot.  Entire city blocks have been purchased for development.  Great restaurants have opened with more on the way.  There will be stunning views of the city from hundreds of new apartments now under construction.  Retail, shops, grocery stores – all now under construction.   A city once again transformed!

Energy Boom in Texas is Strong

Energy Boom in Texas is Strong

In Texas, oil and natural gas are synonymous with boom and bust.   A new field or a new technology brings a drilling rush and spectacular wealth.  Then just when nearly everyone has borrowed to the max, the bottom falls out.  Not this time, says John Auers, an oil analyst with Turner,  Mason & Co. engineering consultants in Dallas.   “This is a more sustainable and potentially longer-lasting boom,” he said.  “The early 80s were great times, but they became bad pretty quick.  That will not happen this time.”

-          Dallas Morning News. January 18, 2014

Gone to Texas

"Gone to Texas"

“Gone to Texas” was a common statement in the 1800s as people went west.  It is now a common statement again today.   In January, Texas gained 33,900 jobs while California lost 31,500 jobs.  The number one move across the nation is Californians moving to Texas.  It is jobs, it is cost of living, it is no income sales tax.  New home construction is booming across Texas, hence 6,200 of the new 33,900 jobs in December were construction related.   Politically, California is a liberal Democratic state.  Texas is the exact opposite, a conservative Republican state.   The typical Californian moving to Texas is a conservative, making California more liberal and Texas more conservative – day by day.  Two great states, and yet so very different.

-          Dallas Morning News (excerpts), January 15, 2014, January 18, 2014

Kim's Fantastic Recipes: Kim's Yummy Chile

Kim's Fantastic Recipes: Kim's Yummy Chile

Can Shadow Inventory Help Relieve Price Pressure?

By Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

Home prices grew at the fastest pace in seven years in 2013. This is good news for property owners, both homeowners and landlords, as they witnessed, on average, a $32,000 gain in housing equity over the past two years.  The equity increase is an immediate financial gain for many.  For others, it marks only a partial recovery.  That is, at the depth of the downturn there were about 12 - 13 million underwater homeowners.  Now, that figure has been essentially slashed in half. 

There is however some bad news along with the quickly rising home values.  Rising home values make it more difficult for first-time homebuyers to make a purchase.  The conditions will be exacerbated by the near-certain case of a rising interest rate environment in the coming years.  In order to lessen the upward price pressure, more inventory is clearly needed.  Homebuilders are raising production, but too late and at too small increments.  Though the most recent housing starts of a 1.1 million annualized pace in November was a solid 30 percent increase from the prior year, the pace is still insufficient.  For all of 2013, housing starts look to finish at 930,000. The long-term, 50-year annual average is 1.5 million housing starts each year.  So the recent past six consecutive years of less than one million new housing units was bound to make an impact on the market.  Existing home inventory is at a 13-year low while newly constructed home inventory is at a 50-year low. 

However, can shadow inventory then save the day in pumping out more homes available for sale?  There are still 2.3 million mortgages that are seriously delinquent (more than 90 days late) or already in the foreclosure process.  This is not counting underwater homeowners, but people who are not paying their mortgage.  Surely, the majority of these distressed mortgages will not ever be made current.  They will instead become REO properties at some point.  Unfortunately, even though 2.3 million seriously delinquent mortgages sound large, they are significantly smaller than what the number had been.  Four years ago, there were 4.3 million in a similar state.  Just one year ago, there were 2.9 million delinquent mortgages.  The bottom line is that we should expect less of an increase in shadow inventory turning into visible inventory. 

Due to differing foreclosure processes, however, some states have a much larger overhang of shadow inventory than others.  In places like Arizona, a homeowner is quickly evicted for being delinquent.  In other places, principally the judicial foreclosure states, the court system has the final say and the overall process tends to drag out for a long time – with a 2 - 3 year time span not uncommon.

What are the judicial states with continuing, plentiful shadow inventory that can hit the market?  Interestingly, they are in states where inventory shortage is not a problem.  Home-price growth has been sluggish and these states still have a shadow looming over their market.  [Price data used is from the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®] The following table shows the serious delinquency rates now and at peak (usually in 2008 or 2009, ranked by the latest home price appreciation for each of the 50 states). 

As one can see, where the inventory would be most welcome, there appears just not enough shadow inventory to help relieve home prices.  The top three, fastest-appreciating states of Nevada, California, and Arizona have reduced seriously delinquent mortgages by roughly 60 - 80 percent.   On the opposite end of those states where seriously delinquent mortgages have been cut by only a little (to the tune of 10 percent or so) - namely New Jersey, New York, Vermont, Delaware, Connecticut, and New Mexico – home price growth has been sluggish.  There are few exceptions to the rule.  Washington D.C., for example, has made only slight progress in reducing seriously delinquent mortgages, yet home price growth has been strong, no doubt due to the stronger employment conditions and from the fact that it already had a relatively low delinquency peak figure.

Lawrence Yun is the chief economist for the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION of REALTORS®. He will be sharing his insider insights on the national and regional housing markets in this new, exclusive column for the Power Broker Report.

DFW Needs more homes NOW!

Construction Booms in Frisco

29 Showings in 3 Hours

One of our agents posted in Facebook that a hot new listing yesterday had 29 showings in three hours.   This unprecedented housing demand has never been seen in the DFW area before – few listings, so many buyers.

So Few Homes For Sale

In The Colony it is only 23 active pre-owned listings.    In Coppell, it is 51 active pre-owned listings, and in Flower Mound it is 118 active pre-owned listings.   Just name the market, and the inventory is LOW!   Ten years ago, Flower Mound averages 735 active listings in MLS, Coppell averaged 250 active MLS listings.  Projections for 2014 – a great time for sellers to make a move, the listing inventory will remain very, very low.

Home Prices Will Go Crazy

“Something is going to have to give (in the DFW market) or you are going to see prices go crazy,” said Mark Dotzour, chief economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M.  “Forget about the housing bubble issue – this is really about supply and demand in the DFW market.”  Supplies of both new and pre-owned homes in the DFW market are at the lowest level in decades because of lower construction levels and record demand for properties.  “You have a huge increase in demand because of the change in buyer psychology,” Dotzour said.  “The normal supply side is constrained because of credit and availability of labor.”

-          Dallas Morning News, January 18, 2014

DFW Needs More Housing Now!

Texas economic growth is the envy of the nation.  But a shortage of homes for sale and soaring housing prices could threaten the state’s continued economic welfare, notes Mark Dotzour, chief economist for the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M.  “The number one economic challenge for Texas going forward is we don’t start building more homes and putting more subdivisions on the ground, the prices of housing will get so expensive that employers will no longer be able to attract workers.” 

-          Dallas Morning News, January 18, 2014

DFW Home Prices Escalating Rapidly

DFW area home prices are nearing ten percent over their peak in 2006, and continue to rapidly increase.  Ten years ago, nationwide pre-owned home prices were 30 percent higher than in the DFW area.  Now, national median home prices are less than 15 percent ahead of those in the DFW area, according to the National Association of Realtors.   And that margin continues to decrease monthly.   “When our housing isn’t cheap anymore, employers won’t be able to attract workers as easily,” notes Mark Dotzour, chief economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M.  “It’s an absolute disaster for economic development and the future of North Texas.”

-          Dallas Morning News, January 18, 2014