Memorial Area Real Estate Update

Zip Code 77024 and the Memorial Villages are some of the most exclusive locations to live in all of Houston. 77024 stretches from the 610 loop on the east side, roughly down I-10 to the north, out to the Beltway 8 on the west, and roughly follows Buffalo Bayou on the southern boundary.

The zip code contains homes in the city Limits of Houston as well as 4 of the "Villages", Bunker Hill Village, Hedwig Village, Piney Point Village, and Hunters Creek, which are independent cities, with their own local government, police and fire departments, and zoning ordinances.

The area has some of the best public schools in Houston, in the Spring Branch Independent School District as well has being in close proximity to some of the best private schools in Houston, such as The Kinkaid School and the Awty International School

With regard to pricing and long term / short term price trends, the Memorial area exhibits the same upward trend recently that were seen in the charts prepared for the Katy area. The difference being that the in Zip Code 77024, prices had actually fallen quite a bit from the previous high in 2015, to the tune of an over 10 percent drop in average price per square foot in 2019. So, the subsequent rise in prices since then, and during the course of the pandemic, while showing the same up trend as in other areas of Houston, the difference in average price from 2019 to the present time is only 16.7 percent. For comparison, the difference in average price per sq ft from 2019 to present in zip code 77494 (Katy area outside the Grand Parkway) was a whopping 46.5 percent! See the long term chart for the entire zip code 77024 below.

It can also be seen in the chart above that the recent price per sq ft has not climbed so high as to surpass the long term trendline, which is markedly different than the recent prices of homes in the Katy suburbs. It is worth noting again, that these charts combine all homes that sold in the entire zip code and are averages. The overall picture here though, appears to show that the average home in zip code 77024 is selling very close to what the long term trendline would predict.

A possible reason for this is that ZC 77024 had a very sharp rise in prices from 2010, when the average price per sq ft was $236 and by the end of that sharp increase in 2015, the average price per sq. ft was $364. So, having already increased in the early 2010's in conjucture with the shale oil boom in west Texas, it's possible that homes in this zip code were already coming off a "higher base", and therefore did not get the pandemic boom that some other areas of Houston did.

As per recent price movement in the area, the chart shows a much more gradual inclrease since the beginning of 2021. Because 77024 has such a wide cost range of homes, with homes in 2022 selling from as low as around $400,000 to over $6,000,000, the charts are much more "jagged" when looking at them on a week to week basis. See short term chart below.

Conclusions - While the Memorial area has increased in price in the same manner as other areas of Houston during the last 2 and a half years, it has been a more modest increase. In addition, on a price per square foot average, is very close to the long term trendline for the area. As always, the caveat that Zip Codes are large areas, and homes need to be assessed individually and based on neighborhoods. But, the overall picture here says that, compared to the long term trend of the Zip Code as a whole, the average home has been selling for close to it's long term trendline.