tiki time

Luxurious new waterfront development sails into Galveston's hottest island

The new development boasts 70 units, villas, a marina, a restaurant, and more.

Photo courtesy of The Residences at Tiki Island

Since 1982, the tiny Tiki Island, which spans a mere 1.5 square miles, has been a hotbed of well-heeled retirees and second beach home owners in Galveston.

With a population of not quite 1,100 with some 482 mostly waterfront households, the village is one of the premiere destinations on the Gulf Coast.

Now, a new development promises the luxe life to those looking to hop aboard one of Texas’ buzziest coastal destinations. The Residences at Tiki Island is a 70-unit condominium development slated to break ground in 2022, developers announced.

Project completion is anticipated in approximately summer 2024.

Texas-based Legend Communities, veterans of waterfront property developments, has named NAN Properties Developer Services as exclusive listing agent, per a press release.

Expect some 70 luxurious two-, three-, and four-bedroom condominium homes, ranging from 1,200 to more than 3,000 square feet. Top two floors will feature two-story penthouses with elevators included in the floor plans.

Meanwhile, buyers can look for eight luxury waterfront villas, a waterfront restaurant, ship store, boathouse, and marina rental slips. Prices at the luxe, six-acre waterfront community currently range from the $800s; villas start at $1 million.

As Tiki is all about that water life, the development also includes a marina with restaurant, and all-important boathouse storage for more than 200 boats.

About those sure-to-be-sought-after villas: waterfront villas to the project plans. The residences will feature dumbwaiters to help owners transport groceries and packages from their cars into their homes. With weather obviously a concern (given Tiki’s water-facing location), each villa will have a backup generator.

These Tiki residences are expected to have access to a state-of-the-art fitness center, a resort-style pool, an outdoor kitchen and lounge area, and even a dog park. The community promises to be golf a cart-friendly community, with a boat valet for easy water access, as well as striking bay views.

More resort amenities currently planned include (per press materials):

a boardwalk and pedestrian site for neighborhood connectivity
a dry boat storage to house 200-plus boats on four levels
a 6,500-square-foot waterfront restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating
a waterfront ship’s store with retail space
marina rental slips and guest slip area for the restaurant and ship’s store
parking for cars and golf carts

“The Residences at Tiki Island will offer boat owners a dream opportunity to not only accommodate their vessel onsite but enjoy the many amenities all just steps away from their residence on the six-acre development,” Betty Harbourt, who leads NAN Properties developer services division, said in a statement. “The plans leverage a resort environment and The Residences of Tiki Island will be exclusive to homeowners and with no short-term rentals. We are thrilled to have been chosen to bring these premier condominiums to market.”

More information on The Residences at Tiki Island can be found here.

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millennial magnet

Houston stars among 30 hottest U.S. metros for millennial homebuyers

Photo by Jose Losada on Unsplash

Houston is a millennial magnet.

Houston and its surrounding cities have already proved to be magnets for millennials, and now a new national housing report has established the city as one of the 15 hottest destinations for millennials, whose local homeownership rate has nearly doubled since 2018.

The number of millennials who own their homes in Houston has grown from 227,365 to 418,698 households over the last five years (84.2 percent), according to a new housing analysis from RentCafe.

The study compared homeowner growth rates versus renter growth rates of millennials — based on Pew Research Center's definition as individuals born between 1981 and 1996 — across 107 U.S. metro areas from 2018 to 2023.

Houston ranked No. 29 in the overall list of U.S. metros that have seen the highest increase in millennial homeowners since 2018. About 49 percent of all Houston-area millennials own their homes, with the remaining 51 percent renting, the report found.

Houston also ranked 22nd in the national list of cities with the biggest growth rates among millennial-age renters. The number of millennial renter households jumped from 397,410 to 439,371 in five years, a 10.6 percent hike.

About 5.3 million millennials have become homeowners over the last five years nationwide, RentCafe's analysts said, which represents a massive 74 percent increase in millennial-owned households. The growth rate of renters was much lower in comparison.

"At the same time, the number of millennial renters in the U.S. rose by a modest 5 percent, adding approximately 600,000 households," RentCafe said. "This brings the total number of millennial homeowner households to 12.4 million, close to the 12.6 million millennial renter households."

While the rate of millennial homeowners is on the rise, the same can't be said for Gen Zers. Less than 15 percent of all Gen Z households in Houston own their homes, while the vast majority are renters, a separate RentCafe study found.

Elsewhere across the state, Austin (No. 7) and San Antonio (No. 10) ranked among the top 10 U.S. cities with the biggest growth rates among millennial homeowners.

The top 10 U.S. metros with the highest gains in millennial homeowners are:

No. 1 – North Port, Florida
No. 2 – Lakeland, Florida
No. 3 – Jacksonville, Florida
No. 4 – Stockton, California
No. 5 – Oxnard, California
No. 6 – Palm Bay, Florida
No. 7 – Austin, Texas
No. 8 – Tuscon, Arizona
No. 9 – Deltona, Florida
No. 10 – San Antonio, Texas

rentcafe study real estate housing report millennials houston