Bigger is better again for luxury homes in North Texas’ most expensive neighborhoods. The shortage of residential properties priced above $10 million is severe. And, speculative construction of homes at that price point and above is on the rise.
In an interview last week , high-end real estate agent Alex Perry of Allie Beth Allman & Associates told us how a $15 million home price has become the new $10 million in Dallas.
In this installment, Perry gives more insight into the premium property market.
What trends or changes do you see in the Dallas luxury market?
Pre-COVID, people and builders were leaning toward smaller footprints. Smaller than 10,000-square-foot homes. The market had said, “enough” with the McMansions. That’s 100% changed after COVID. People want more bedrooms, game rooms, workout rooms, media rooms, wine rooms, mother-in-law quarters, guest suites. You name it. People are using their homes more. They think there are going to be longer-term plays. They’re having their family visit. When their family visits, they’re having them stay with them. I also think that what COVID did is that people became more comfortable. They had the finances to buy these homes. It just made them more comfortable investing that money into quality of life because of how quickly it can change with a virus or any other unforeseen event.
How has COVID changed the business side for residential real estate agents?
COVID was a get-back-to-the-basics in terms of relationships, working hard, problem-solving. I specialize in that, so it’s fun for me. It energized me in this market, and that’s how I like to work.
At the luxury level, in the Dallas market, how much home and land can a buyer get at various price points in the neighborhoods in which you specialize?
If you’re looking for an acre-plus of land and you want a house on there, you can’t start in the Park Cities. You’re going to have to go to Preston Hollow. An acre of land in the Park Cities starts at $10 million. So very quickly, you can tell where someone wants to be based on the land size. If you want half an acre and a nice size home, your budget in Park Cities still needs to be over $10 million. By the time you find a good piece of land and a nice house, you’ll lean toward certainly over $8 million (on a half-acre) when we’re talking about the luxury market.
How bad is the shortage of homes in the luxury market?
Tremendous. Not just a shortage, and a tremendous shortage. When you have people calling you and asking to see homes between $10 and $20 million, and you have one or two homes to show them, and you’re one of many agents in town who work with these types of buyers, there’s a huge shortage.
What’s the solution?
There’s not a quick solution to it. Building is one. You’re seeing builders take on some large specs (speculative construction) that builders didn’t use to do. I’ve sold three spec projects over $10 million, which normally you would never see, including one over $15 million, which I think is probably the largest spec sold in Dallas to date. It’s a true spec project in the Park Cities.
How did that one come about? Does a builder just decide to build a $15 million spec house?
Usually, an investment group buys a piece of land and then goes to a builder. You can see a couple on Beverly (Drive) right now. You can see one on Armstrong (Parkway). Two have been done on Potomac. You have investors wanting to take advantage of this market and build large specs for the people coming to town. Again, the issue is you still don’t have a ton of that inventory, and it takes a minimum of two years to complete that inventory.
What do you see as the biggest challenge for the rest of the year for the luxury market?
The biggest challenge is volatility, 100%. Volatility from the stock market, volatility from crypto, volatility from the war that’s going on. People tend not to make huge monetary decisions with volatility. So what you’re going to see is people pump the brakes in looking for their 20-year home. Huge volatility is not good for a luxury market.
What is your background? My family is English, and my mom and dad are both from the U.K. My dad’s dad was Fred Perry , a famous British tennis player who won […]
source Big homes making a comeback in Dallas’ luxury market, high-end agent Alex Perry says
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