Builders active in slow recovery
Meyerland still in flux after hard hit from Harvey
Meyerland, the bayoufronting neighborhood in southwest Houston that was one of the hardest hit by Hurricane Harvey, continues its slow recovery two years after the storm, with nearly 100 new homes under construction, new data show.
The majority of the homes have been commissioned by owners who decided to rebuild after flooding, some multiple times. While the activity is promising, 111 lots remain vacant, according to Metrostudy, a housing industry consulting firm. That’s nearly 5 percent of the Meyerland housing stock.
An estimated 60 percent of the empty lots are owned by former residents who are expected to rebuild. Of the remaining lots, 40 percent are owned by investors, a quarter of which are builders.
After Harvey flooded the majority of the homes in the neighborhood, longtime residents Brian and Dena Miller decided to trade in their ranch house — even though it
didn’t flood — and build new.
Brian Miller grew up in the neighborhood and his grandparents built their first home there. The couple’s two young boys go to the local schools and they love the close-knit feel of the neighborhood, which became even closer after the floods.
They purchased a nearby 15,000-square-foot lot, tore down a thrice-flooded house on the property and signed a contract with a builder for a new home. They moved in this spring.
In addition to their deep roots in the neighborhood, the Millers, both 41, were also motivated by value.
“From a dollars-per-square foot point of view, it’s the best deal around,” Dena Miller said. “Our lot would be $800,000 in Bellaire or West U.”
The couple did not want to say what they paid for the property, but values in the neighborhood have been falling since their peak in 2014. The median price-persquare-foot for a house in Meyerland was $119.11 in 2018, down 40 percent from 2014, according to Houston Association of Realtors data. There are 99 homes for sale with an average list price of $534,825.
Meyerland, a community just outside Loop 610 on both sides of Brays Bayou, consists of around 2,300 single-family homes.
Many residents whose homes flooded during Harvey were quick to rebuild, renovate or elevate their homes to keep from flooding again.
But there’s another part of the community that’s more conservative. Those homeowners have either moved out of the neighborhood or still own property there and still haven’t decided what to do as they remain in long-term rentals.
“That flood was devastating,” said builder Scott Frankel. “I understand people who are still kind of reeling.”
He expects the vacant lots to eventually be developed, especially ones owned by former residents.
“People will still build on their lots because they want to be in that community,” said Frankel, copresident of Frankel Building Group, which constructed the Millers’ home.
Partners in Building, which offers a build-on-your-lot program, is selling about one custom home per month in the neighborhood.
“That brings us back to kind of where it was before the flood,” said Jim Lemming, president of Partners in Building. “It’s a more normalized pace.”
The company has been building its homes as much as 12 feet above grade.
“This neighborhood is still largely a build-on-your-lot market, not a spec market,” Lawrence Dean, regional director in Metrostudy’s Houston office, told builders
this week during a housing market update in west Houston.
Over the past year, builders sold just six new spec homes — those built without committed buyers — ranging in price from $870,000 to $1.2 million, Metrostudy data show. There are now eight spec homes on the market priced from $939,000 to $1.4 million.
“People are still buying,” said Mark Levin, who has the listing on a three-bedroom, two-bath home with just over 1,300 square feet on Carew Street.
Levin is one of several agents who have planned a “progressive open house” of eight Meyerlandarea homes on Saturday. A flyer posted on Facebook promotes the event as the “Never Flooded Home Tour” and offers shoppers a chance to win a $100 gift card.
Levin acknowledged that buyers are skeptical about buying in a neighborhood that flooded, but Meyerland’s close-in location is part of its value.
The house he’s listing has been on the market for less than a month. After one price drop of $8,000, the property is now listed at $339,900.
“This price point is a very reasonable price point for a first-time buyer,” Levin said, “especially a millennial.”