CONDO LIFE
Home search: Houston-area market inventory.
With the growing demand for luxury condominiums in the Houston market, knowing what’s available when you decide to go shopping can help in your search.
Choosing where you want to live is the first step. Houston’s widespread condo market luckily has something for everyone in any part of town.
In high demand are the Galleria and River Oaks border, according to Hedley Karpas with Martha Turner/ Sotheby’s International Realty. The draw is a location with great walkability and driving access to multiple retail outlets and highways.
“The buyers who are coming to these areas are typically empty nesters or have a child at home who will be leaving for school soon. The downtown area is another part of town that is on fire. The group that tends to want the downtown location is a younger group of people who enjoy the sports, restaurants and downtown lifestyle,” Karpas said.
Developers have taken into consideration all that buyers are looking for in a luxury setting. High in demand are valet parking, concierge services, porter, and doorman as well as a conference room, entertaining room with a full kitchen, swimming pool and gym.
“Security is the number one priority,” said Karpas. “Pet spas, hotel suites, movie theatre, virtual golf range, fireplaces, and gas cooktops are some of the items that can be found in today’s new collection of buildings.”
Mid-rise or high-rise? Each has their own perks to offer for condo homeowners.
Earlier residential construction built in the early 1960s, such as Park V and VI, The Beaconsfield and Lamar Towers, are wellmaintained and remain a desirable place to live Karpas said.
“These buildings are more affordable to purchase and unit sizes are typically larger than what you will find from the buildings built in the 1980s,
which was the next decade to see a boom of new residential high- and mid-rise buildings,” he said.
Buildings built in the ‘80s have been mostly update
and remodeled as well as the individual units in the building. Karpas added that prices have increased slightly, but most units have held their value for what they were originally sold for.
“That is particularly attractive to today’s buyers since the buildings that have been built in the past few years have significantly higher sales prices,” said Karpas.
Newly established construction, including The River Oaks, Arabella, Belfiore and The Wilshire,
offer more amenities, improved energy materials, more sophisticated technology, larger floor plans and lower maintenance fees Karpas stated.
Don’t see something appealing just yet? Houston has more up and coming condos on the horizon.
The Giorgetti, a new concept mid-rise, has finishes all from Giorgetti, one of the oldest and most renowned furniture makers in Italy. These range from the leather, wood and even some furniture in the common area.
Also, The Sophie, located close to Memorial Park, is being developed by the same developer, as Giorgetti Karpas explained.
“This building will offer large covered terraces with summer kitchens and outdoor fireplaces,” said Karpas.
Potential homeowners also should take a look at The Revere at River Oaks,
an elegant smaller building that is more traditional in style yet offers all the modern-day amenities as well as The Hawthorne, a fullservice building being developed by Pelican Builders and for those age 55 and older.
Coming soon is The Paramount, a Randall Davis new building with 50 units offering elegant finishes with amenities like and indoor and outdoor pool. The building will be Art Deco in style with gold accents.