Residential royalty

Fort Worth listed among top U.S. luxury home markets to watch in 2020

This Fort Worth home that looks like a castle is listed for less than $700,000. Photo courtesy of Estately.com

While Dallas and Houston might draw much of the attention in Texas when it comes to luxury homes, Fort Worth is now stealing the spotlight.

A new report from Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC and the Coldwell Banker Global Luxury program lists Fort Worth as one of the five top luxury markets to watch in 2020. The others are Boise, Idaho; Charlotte, North Carolina; Cincinnati; and Colorado Springs, Colorado.

“Today, the city that’s in Dallas’ shadow is establishing itself as a luxury outpost,” the report says.

Part of the rise of Fort Worth as a luxury home market stems from its desirability as a place to live and work.

“Fort Worth’s laid-back atmosphere, convenience to DFW International Airport, and business-friendly environment make it attractive for companies,” Lori Arnold, owner of Coldwell Banker Apex Realtors, says in the report.

In the 10 percent luxury category, the median list price in 2019 for a single-family home in the Fort Worth area was $743,100 and the median sale price was $643,100. Meanwhile, the highest list price was $12 million and the highest sale price was $6.5 million. In all, 2,890 luxury homes were sold last year in the Fort Worth market.

As for luxury condos in the 10 percent category, the median list price in 2019 was $508,500, while the median sale price was $463,454. In all, 125 of these condos were sold last year. The highest list price, meanwhile, was $3,235,500, and the highest sale price was $1,780,000.

“It’s amazing what you can get for $500,000, like a four-bedroom house with 4,500 square feet and a three-car garage on a sizable lot,” Arnold says. “There’s an influx of buyers from California and New York, and [the] cost of living is much lower here. Clients say, ‘My gosh, we paid that for our starter home!’”

Elsewhere in Texas, the same report ranked Austin among the country’s four top-performing luxury home markets in 2019. The others are Arlington, Virginia; Malibu, California; and San Diego.

Coldwell Banker says it found Austin and the three other top performers “had an evenly distributed hold on the top 10 percent of luxury sales in 2019. Their sales prices in relation to other luxury markets made them the top performers of the industry this past year.” In the Austin market, the annual pace of sales for homes above $2 million has climbed 45 percent since 2015, according to the report.

The report indicates that the local heavy demand for single-family luxury homes and luxury condos has been driven by highly paid employees of tech companies like Amazon, Apple, Dell, and Facebook.

Clearfork News

Fort Worth's Shops at Clearfork to add restaurants with patio power

Wells Fargo will be the anchor tenant at new office & retail building. Courtesy rendering

There's expansion in the works for The Shops at Clearfork, the open-air shopping, dining and entertainment, living and office destination at 5188 Monahans Ave. in southwest Fort Worth. According to a release, Clearfork property owner Simon is adding a new development with office space, restaurants, and retail — part of a multi-year transformation to enhance the center’s blend of retail and lifestyle offerings.

The Offices at Clearfork will be a three-story, 70,000-square-foot building with two floors and 50,000 square feet of modern Class A office space, with 22,000 square feet of ground floor retail and restaurant space. The new development will become the third office building at the center, and will complement the two existing, fully leased office buildings.

The new project is being designed and built in collaboration with Cassco Development Co. The project has broken ground with an anticipated opening in 2026.

Wells Fargo is the anchor office tenant of this new development, relocating from its downtown Fort Worth office to lease the top floor and a portion of the 2nd floor, leaving only one 11,000-square-foot office suite available for lease.

According to Simon Senior VP Mixed Use Development Patrick Peterman, this is one of the last two parcels of land.

"The Shops at Clearfork are yet another example of Simon’s commitment to leading the evolution of mixed-use destinations through the strategic transformation of key properties across its portfolio," Peterman says.

Other recent additions to The Shops at Clearfork include Chanel Fragrance & Beauty, Jo Malone, and CH Carolina Herrera, and more tenants are in the works, including retail, office and restaurants, which will feature open-air dining, adding another level of kapow for visitors.

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