Jamie Yancy, a Realtor with Lake Conroe Realty, said the population boom has been pushing both of these trends—Conroe was named the fastest-growing city in the nation by the U.S. Census Bureau in May 2017, with a population of more than 50,000.
“It’s all land-driven. Trying to find land is the difficult part,” Yancy said. “I used to look for land out there for people so they could run cows; now I’m looking for developers to put in subdivisions.”
Years ago, the Crown Oaks and Grand Harbor area used to have half-acre, full-acre, 3-acre and 5-acre lots, Yancy said. Now, he said he sees developers carving up that acreage into lots 50 feet wide, or even denser condos or townhomes like in northwest Conroe’s neighborhood of Wedgewood Falls, where developers like KB Homes and Chesmar Homes are working.
“Home prices have continued to push up, mainly because land prices and construction costs after the hurricane—obviously we saw an increase, but the cost to develop land and to purchase land is also pushing prices higher every day,” Yancy said. “What you will see because of those land prices is developers looking at projects that have more density.”
Density before luxury
Realtor Michael Goins with Lake Homes Realty said he has not seen many high-end new developments actually on the lake—that land is mostly developed now—but has seen new homes going for $500,000 near the lake.
“There are quite a few new developments that are coming up and in the process of being built,” Goins said of areas such as Grand Central Park in southwest Conroe, the Estates of Wedgwood Falls and the Hills of Westlake in the northwest, and Ladera Creek in the southeast.
Goins noticed most of the new construction around the lake is in the $300,000-$400,000 range, but fewer of the luxury homes are being built on actual lakefront property—nearby homes in the $200,000-$400,000 range can be found in the Woods of Conroe, the Hills of Westlake or the Estates of Wedgewood Falls.
Yancy said low-end starter homes—now going for $225,000-$250,000—have doubled in price over 12 years, up from a range of $90,000-$100,000.
“It’s good for growth but sad for those of us who have been around Montgomery and are used to having a little more space,” Yancy said. “People came to this area because it was far enough out of Houston they could get a little more space, but because the city continues to get closer, all of a sudden now space comes at a premium and you’re starting to see those city neighborhoods show up here.”
Unincorporated homes
About 70 percent of all residential buildings in the Lake Conroe region are single-family structures, according to the Lake Conroe Summit 2018 Economic and Development Forecast report by the Community Development Strategies research firm. Moreover, there are more than 24,000 single-family homes planned for the Lake Conroe region, which will likely be built over the next 10 years.
The report also showed the number of master-planned communities exploding in Conroe’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, such as the Woodforest area, along with anticipated growth in the Montgomery and Willis areas, indicated this growth.
Conroe’s ETJ—areas up to a mile out that the city could annex in the future—is a hot spot for single-family home growth, said Nancy Mikeska, Conroe’s director of community development. She cited the incoming
900-acre master-planned community by Airia Development Company: located on the corner of Hwy. 242 and FM 1314, it will feature 5,000 residential homes upon build-out, Mikeska said.
Shannan Reid, director of the Montgomery Economic Development Corporation, said single-family homes are being developed in ETJs where the land prices are more affordable and developers can expand lot sizes.
“Once a city annexes the land and applies city ordinances ... the cost skyrockets for the developer and they must increase the number of homes they must sell within that same amount of space to turn any sort of profit,” Reid said.
