Today’s sponsor is Just Buyers Houston, a real estate firm that represents — yes — buyers only. Thanks for supporting Swamplot!

Just Buyers Houston has just published its price appreciation stats for 2016 — showing that once again, Westbury comes out the winner over the previous 10-year period. The calculation compares the average price paid per square foot in 2007 to that in 2016. In 2007 it was $87; in 2016 it was $152 — a 76% increase.

Judy Thompson has been calculating appreciation statistics since 2000 and publishes 10 years of data. According to her numbers, it is usually the more affordable, less gentrified, and well-located neighborhoods that show the highest appreciation rate.

Second in the list is Timbergrove. Another high-performing area was the Energy Corridor and Memorial. Falling energy prices really haven’t had much of an impact (at least not yet) in these neighborhoods, which are near millions of square feet of energy company office space on the west side, she notes. An adjustment may still be coming; but so far, Judy says, it has remained difficult for buyers to find executive housing in those areas.

The lowest performing area of the 10-year period was the Memorial Park area (Zip Code 77007), with a 19 percent increase in price paid per square foot. The supply of housing is still increasing in that Zip Code, Judy reports, so she considers it unlikely that any serious supply pressure will develop there over the next few years. But every year there are fewer lots available for new construction so she expects the supply will become fixed over the next decade or so. Right now, though, Judy doesn’t consider that area a great investment.

If you are a real estate investor, Just Buyers Houston’s data scientist can help with all sorts of big data analysis:

• Percentile of value for nearby or comparable properties (for example: 80 percent of lot sizes are bigger, 20 percent are smaller)
• Probability analysis of how much the final sale price will be
• Monte Carlo simulation for the return on investment (ROI) from rents, flips, long-term holding, etc.
• Needle-in-the-haystack search for exactly what any customer needs
• Spatial comparisons showing how the neighborhood or city is changing

The company will be developing even more analyses over the next few months. They’ll be appearing on the Just Buyers Houston website — so check it regularly as the offerings are expanded. If you’re interested in a more customized approach to Houston real estate information, talk to Just Buyers Houston.

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