North Texas’ condo market is even hotter than single-family sales

If you think the Dallas-Fort Worth housing market is hot, take a look at the housing market.

Condominium and townhouse sales are up nearly 50% this year in North Texas.

And while the single-family home market may have peaked – with year-over-year sales declining in the past two months – condominium sales are getting even higher.

Nicholas Cirigliano, who recently moved here from New York for his job, has just bought a condo in the uptown neighborhood of Dallas.

He is one of the earliest buyers of the One Uptown residential tower on McKinney Avenue, a three-year-old luxury high-rise that is being converted from rent to property.

“I rented Victory Park for a year,” says Cirigliano, who works for a global technology company. “I was thinking of a single family home.

“But I’m 25 and I want to be at the center of everything,” he said. “That suited my lifestyle better.”

Cirigliano said location was his main consideration when choosing the one bedroom apartment.

“If you’re from New York, you can walk anywhere from this building,” he said. “That was the number one factor.”

The 20-story One Uptown Tower in McKinney and Routh Street comprises 196 luxury rental units and 18,000 square meters of restaurant and retail space on the ground floor.

It is the first Dallas luxury rental property to be converted into property in many years.

“There are opportunities for buyers in the housing market,” said Al Coker of Al Coker & Associates, who are marketing the condos to buyers. “If you look at the cost of the whole new high-rise building, the new condos start at $ 1 million and up.”

Coker said a 590-square-foot studio unit in the One Uptown building costs around $ 260,000.

“We sold 10 units last week and we have had around 32 total sales so far,” he said. “Lots of people who have lived in uptown and pay $ 3 rent can afford to buy something.”

Al Coker, CEO of Al Coker & Associates, stands in one of the studio condos for sale on One Uptown on McKinney Avenue in Uptown Dallas.(Shelby Tauber / special article)

So far, the skyscraper has attracted a wide variety of buyers, from beginners to more mature buyers looking to downsize.

“We had a couple of empty nests,” said Coker. “We have a few people who live in the country and are looking for a second home.

“I’ve been seeing a lot of New York license plates lately and they’re condos,” he said. “They are not ready to move into the suburbs and buy a house.”

Condos and townhouses can be a bargain compared to single-family homes.

That year, the average price of condos and townhouses sold by real estate agents this year was $ 287,500 – nearly $ 40,000 less than the average single-family home.

And there are smaller condos in the Dallas area that are available for sale for less than $ 150,000.

“Because the price is lower, it makes buying an entry-level model easier,” said Dr. James Gaines, economist at the Texas Real Estate Research Center. “Condos are generally located in urban areas, so a young millennial may want to live there.

“There is an opportunity to have a better home than living in an apartment.”

And he said some baby boomers might find the lock-it-and-leave-it lifestyle attractive when they travel.

“They’re fed up with mowing the yard and buying both townhouses and condos,” Gaines said. “It’s really a split market with both very affordable and very expensive condos.

“The low-end market is extremely attractive for entry-level buyers.”

A pull-out bed in one of the studio units in the One Uptown Condo Tower on McKinney Avenue in Uptown Dallas.(Shelby Tauber / special article)

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