River Oaks, the grande dame of Houston’s luxury enclaves, ranked as the city’s most expensive neighborhood last year, according to the Realty News Report Houston Luxe List Home Price Survey, produced by Crawford Realty Advisors.

The Luxe List price analysis also ranked Southampton Place, Royden Oaks, Oak Estates, West University Place, Tanglewood, Avalon Place, Rice Court, Monticello and Glen Cove in the Top 10.

River Oaks, with a 2013 median price of $401.43 per square foot or $1.53 million per home, showed a 10.8 percent gain over the $362.27 per square foot a year earlier, according to the new Houston Luxe List.

Years ago, when development of the River Oaks began in the 1920s, lot prices were $2,200. Home prices have gone up considerably since then, Today, its most expensive for-sale listing is a six-bedroom mansion priced at $16 million.

The inventory of homes for sale in River Oaks is very limited right now and demand is high, says Cheri Fama, president of John Daugherty Realtors.

“River Oaks is amazing. The lack of inventory has made every single property that comes on the market truly a treasure,” Fama says. “Whenever a River Oaks home comes on the market, the agents line up their buyers who have been looking. When people see one they like, they are not taking extra time to think about it, they are making an offer.”

Many of the neighborhoods in the Realty News Report Houston Luxe List are near River Oaks or West University Place, but there are several neighborhoods in the Memorial area that made the list.

The Realty News Report Houston Luxe List Price Survey of 2014, produced by Crawford Realty Advisors, was based on recorded sales prices of transactions finalized in 2013.

“The Houston economy is strong and the inventory of homes on the market has been very tight,” says housing analyst Evert Crawford of Houston-based Crawford Realty Advisors. “Home prices in these upper-end neighborhoods rose significantly in 2013 and that trend will continue.”

Crawford, former Director of the Hobby Center for Public Policy Institute for Regional Forecasting at the University of Houston, specializes in real estate analysis and economic studies. As editor of Realty News Report, I worked with Crawford in the development of the Luxe List.

The luxury home market is not the only segment showing strength. For all houses in the Greater Houston area, the median price of a single-family home sold in March was $189,000, up about 10 percent from March of last year, the Houston Association of Realtors reports.

Houston’s real estate market, fueled by significant job creation, has been surging for more than two years. Last year more than 73,000 homes were sold in Houston, an annual record.

Ralph Bivins, founding editor of Realty News Report, is a former president of the National Association of Real Estate Editors.

Realty News Report’s Luxe List of 2014

Neighborhood Median Price Per Square Foot Median Price
RIVER OAKS* $401.43 $1,532,500
SOUTHAMPTON PLACE* $341.39 $958,852
ROYDEN OAKS* $338.00 $1,574,700
OAK ESTATES* $336.30 $1,593,813
WEST UNIVERSITY PLACE* $334.45 $1,483,500
TANGLEWOOD ** $331.73 $1,338,775
AVALON PLACE* $329.54 $1,251,500
RICE COURT* $327.13 $902,600
MONTICELLO* $323.53 $898,000
GLEN COVE* $323.30 $1,450,000
CRESTWOOD* $318.82 $1,372,500
SUNSET TERRACE* $307.85 $1,312,000
SOUTHSIDE PLACE* $304.57 $1,082,500
WOODSON PLACE* $302.16 $585,000
COLLEGEVIEW* $301.05 $810,000
SOUTHGATE* $300.64 $693,000
COLONIAL TERRACE* $293.86 $932,245
FROSTWOOD** $288.66 $877,750
AFTON OAKS* $287.75 $723,000
MEMORIAL FOREST** $286.80 $820,500

Source: Luxe List, Crawford Realty Advisors, Realty News Report

*Inner Loop
** Memorial area