Why Sugarland house prices going up so fast? (Houston, Sugar Land: real estate, 2014)

[misterno]

Originally Posted by swopoe

I live in Sugar Land, and while our home is not for sale, I just checked it on Zillow. The listing isn't even close to being accurate, in terms of house specs or value, from what I perceive (I look at local HAR listings for fun). Just go to HAR.

You mean Zillow under or over representing?

[cheryjohns]

Back in the beginning of 2009, a house sold in that neighborhood for $106 psf. This one is listed at almost $141 psf - an increase of $35 psf in 8 years. That's not outrageous in Sugar Land.

[Houston321]

Just as a note, Zillow and Trulia are crap. Thanks.

[swopoe]

Originally Posted by misterno

You mean Zillow under or over representing?

Under. It also has our square footage and bathrooms wrong.

[Gradee]

Redfin has a more accurate estimate than Zillow and if you create an account it will give you the sold prices for free. Realtors have premium access for HAR.com where they an see sold prices. Hope this information is helpful.

[Gradee]

Trulia is helpful for the crime statistics map of the neighborhood.

[Sugarlandbubba]

I think there are many factors contributed to the rising home prices in Sugarland area.

In the last 10 years, I saw:

1. Several new medical buildings (St. Luke, new wings at Methodist and Memorial Herman)
2. New high end developments such as Tel-Fair and Riverstone at $130-160 SF
3. New shopping places such as Wholefoods, Costco, 99Ranch, HEB,
4. New parks and outdoor entertainments such as SL Memorial Park, bike trails, Saturday Farmers market and Baseball stadium
5. New museums such as Natural Science Museum and now the Children's Discovery Center
6. New Restaurants, new restaurants and many more new restaurants
7. Some of the best public schools on the SW side of Houston MSA
8. Completion of SW Freeway expansion to 99 toll to reduce traffic congestion
9. Free entertainment on weekends at Town Center and now new Smart Financial Center for professional entertainments
10. Named one of the best city to live in The U.S.

[ftbend06]

All of the above is true, but I think it's mostly that it's in a fixed, highly regulated area that's desirable to be in. Houston keeps expanding out, but Sugar Land is fixed (save for the annexation of a few existing areas). You cannot really develop anything else in Sugar Land. It's all either developed or already firmly planned for development. Yes they're still building, but it's kind of like being on an island relative to other parts of Houston; demand is high and supply is limited.

Also, because of regulations and zoning, not to mention the market and land values, most everything that gets built there is nice. They regulate what uses can go in their commercial areas, and how it has to be built, much more than other parts of this area. Therefore their commercial areas will not deteriorate in a few years like many others. There are also relatively few apartment developments, and those that do go in have to be nice due to regulations. This also influences demographics, whether one believes there should be more affordable housing there or not.

Bottom line, you know what you're getting there, whether it's already there or not. What's there is there and is mostly nice. Anything additional will have to be nice due to regulations. You cannot necessarily say that down/up the road from Sugar Land. It's somewhat a "guarantee" when you buy there and people will pay a premium for that guarantee.

Also, one data point on a website doesn't mean prices are going up that fast, but yes they've gone up significantly and will continue to go up there (Sugar Land).

[NTexas2010]

Originally Posted by ftbend06

All of the above is true, but I think it's mostly that it's in a fixed, highly regulated area that's desirable to be in. Houston keeps expanding out, but Sugar Land is fixed (save for the annexation of a few existing areas). You cannot really develop anything else in Sugar Land. It's all either developed or already firmly planned for development. Yes they're still building, but it's kind of like being on an island relative to other parts of Houston; demand is high and supply is limited.

Also, because of regulations and zoning, not to mention the market and land values, most everything that gets built there is nice. They regulate what uses can go in their commercial areas, and how it has to be built, much more than other parts of this area. Therefore their commercial areas will not deteriorate in a few years like many others. There are also relatively few apartment developments, and those that do go in have to be nice due to regulations. This also influences demographics, whether one believes there should be more affordable housing there or not.

Bottom line, you know what you're getting there, whether it's already there or not. What's there is there and is mostly nice. Anything additional will have to be nice due to regulations. You cannot necessarily say that down/up the road from Sugar Land. It's somewhat a "guarantee" when you buy there and people will pay a premium for that guarantee.

Also, one data point on a website doesn't mean prices are going up that fast, but yes they've gone up significantly and will continue to go up there (Sugar Land).

Very well said. All reasons why I point to Sugar Land being a nice place to live 10, 20, 30 years from now and wonder what will come of all the now suburbs in Houston's ETJ. The key word is "control".

[Augiec]

Looking at the sales history of the house, assuming they pulled the data from the MLS (only reliable source), the house did a little more than double in price over the course of TWENTY YEARS.

Price History

DATE PRICE
12/28/16 $318,000 (+113%)
11/04/93 $149,432

That's really not terrible by any stretch of the imagination.