Why are homes in Bellaire, Kirby, River Oaks, Memorial, so expensive? (Houston: lawyers, houses)

[MikeTheMan9]

Can anyone tell me why homes in Bellaire, Kirby, River Oaks, Memorial are so expensive? There are so many homes there selling for 1-3million+ dollars. Why are they so expensive compared to the rest of Houston and who are the people who can afford these and live in these areas? Are the people who live in these neighborhoods all doctors, lawyers, CEO's, business owners, etc.?

[WRM20]

Why not? Lots of people with good jobs. All those buildings around town are full of people making money.

[predatorprey]

Why? Location location location.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by MikeTheMan9

Can anyone tell me why homes in Bellaire, Kirby, River Oaks, Memorial are so expensive? There are so many homes there selling for 1-3million+ dollars. Why are they so expensive compared to the rest of Houston and who are the people who can afford these and live in these areas? Are the people who live in these neighborhoods all doctors, lawyers, CEO's, business owners, etc.?

Bellaire, Kirby and Memorial-schools and location close to jobs.
River Oaks-location close to jobs.

I've never figured out how so many people can afford all these expensive homes. Good investments maybe.

[jerbear30]

It always surprises me, how many wealthy people there are here. But I think first that it's an urban thing. Most of the wealthy people in the US live in cities, so the rich are always over-represented in a big city. Also, this is the 4th biggest city in the US, which means that many, many people live here. Geographically, the areas you named are not that great a percentage of the city, but again, the rich have more land, too, so it can seem like a disproportionate amount of space. Finally, it's important to remember that many people have kind of lucked into a good situation based on an earlier investment. I have colleagues who I work with making 60-90k per year who live in 500k homes because they bought them a long time ago and the values rose (I'm thinking mostly of the Heights and Bellaire here--River Oaks and Memorial have always been rich).

[astrohip]

Originally Posted by jerbear30

It always surprises me, how many wealthy people there are here.<snip>

Nice post, well said.

Originally Posted by MikeTheMan9

Can anyone tell me why homes in Bellaire, Kirby, River Oaks, Memorial are so expensive? There are so many homes there selling for 1-3million+ dollars. Why are they so expensive compared to the rest of Houston and who are the people who can afford these and live in these areas? Are the people who live in these neighborhoods all doctors, lawyers, CEO's, business owners, etc.?

Location. In the larger cities, most of the nicer (AKA expensive) areas tend to be closer to the city core. Less driving time, older established neighborhoods, closer to downtowns and other civic amenities (arenas, theaters, etc). It's easy to build a new subdivision out in the boonies; it's almost impossible to build one close to town. So the older ones keep growing in value. What predatorpey said... "Location".

Stats say about 4% of Americans are millionaires. Let's use 1% to be really conservative. The Houston SMSA is about 6.8 million people, so our 1% is 68,000 millionaires. That'll buy a lot of inner-loop homes!

[lhafer]

Houston is a large city. It’s also a very international city. Many people here work in the oil & gas industry which brings in a lot of money through expats and through its port with international trades. There are quite a few Fortune 500 companies headquartered here. Houston is home of the largest medical center in the world, that houses many specialists in their field. Although it’s beginning to change, historically cost of living has always been cheaper than similar large cities like Chicago, LA, NYC, etc. you just get more for your money. Also no state income tax. Housing typically is cheaper here than other areas - both labor and materials.

There are a myriad of reasons why there are a lot of wealthy people here. And location to work and the nice things Houston has to offer is why the wealthy tend to congregate in particular areas.

[chris_ut]

So the Cullen family was one of the early pioneers of the Texas oil business and made a fortune. He built his mansion in the area that is now River Oaks and many of the other wealthy oil families followed suit so thats why the money concentrated there and has spread out to nearby areas like Bellaire and Memorial. People I know who live in these areas are generally oil company executives or owners who have had multi million dollar paydays over their careers.

[Memorialite]

Supply and demand. If you read citydata often, you will know there is high demand for a less than 30 minute commute with good neighborhood (non magnet) schools.
Yes my area is mostly lawyers, oil company employees, dentists, business owners and trust fund families. Majority are single income with stay at home spouse.

[predatorprey]

Originally Posted by Memorialite

Supply and demand. If you read citydata often, you will know there is high demand for a less than 30 minute commute with good neighborhood (non magnet) schools.
Yes my area is mostly lawyers, oil company employees, dentists, business owners and trust fund families. Majority are single income with stay at home spouse.

Really? Almost every Bellaire family are double income.