San Antonio luxury home prices rise to the occasion

SAN ANTONIO – Just when it seems like San Antonio’s housing
market couldn’t get any stronger, home prices post an even bigger increase—this
time focusing on the top.

The Texas Association of Realtors’ latest luxury home salesreport posted a whopping 36.4 percent increase in luxury home sales, or those
priced at $1 million and higher, between January and October 2015.

That number was posted alongside a 3 percent rise in home
sales for the San Antonio-New Braunfels metropolitan statistical area for the
final three-month period of 2015.

Statewide, luxury home sales continued to be one of the
fastest-growing areas of the residential market, with the sweet spot falling between
the $1 million and $1.5 million price range.

The report found sales volume increases among the four large
metros—San Antonio, Houston, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth—between 4.5 percent to
36.4 percent.

In San Antonio, homes with price tags in the seven-figure
range still account for less than 1 percent of the market, and while active
listings increased by 33 percent, the median price of about $1.3 million for a
luxury home here is the lowest compared to Austin, Houston and Dallas.

Comparably, Austin’s median is $1.38 million and Dallas’ is
$1.4 million.

But there are two major trends unfolding that could shake up
San Antonio’s ranking among its three sister cities.

For starters, San Antonio’s 3 percent increase in home sales
for fourth quarter 2015 far outweighed the statewide 0.3 percent jump, and came
alongside a 4 percent rise in the city’s median home price. Further, inventory
levels and the time a house spends on the market continue to drop.

The next is a statewide trend of rising land
values. Forget the homes themselves, since a growing portion of homebuyers
shopping on the highest end of the market are purchasing smaller lots, but
those in more desirable locations and with more upscale amenities.