Qué bella

New Heights luxury condominiums elevate living on bustling and buzzy Yale Street

Bella Heights will offer 28 homes on the bustling Yale Street.

Rendering courtesy of Nan Properties Developer Services

A new development in a bustling area in the Heights promises to elevate living for first-time buyers and those looking for a lock-and-leave lifestyle. Bella Heights, a new luxury condominium complex, will offer 28 homes at 829 Yale Street.

Developed and spearheaded by local real estate firm Nan and Company Properties, the new development features one-, two- and three-bedrooms homes for sale starting in early 2024, per press materials. Those familiar with the area will recognize the lot as a currently abandoned property; the parcel was acquired in January 2023 from Steadfast Funding.

Targeting those looking to live off of the dense Yale Street, which teems with bars, restaurants, and retail, Bella Heights will offer buyers newly constructed homes — including four, two-level penthouses — with expansive terraces and views. Amenities and features include a welcome lobby with attendant, social room, fitness center, grilling terrace with hot tub and sunning lounge, a guest suite, and a pet walk for furry family members.

Another perk: controlled access parking, which will relieve the strain of parking in the Heights — always an adventure.

“We have been working with the design team for Bella Heights to develop a superior lifestyle option for individuals seeking a condominium ownership opportunity,” said Betty M. Harbourt, executive vice president of Nan Properties Developer Services, in a statement.

“With permits in place, construction is underway with homes and an on-site sales center planned to be unveiled early next year. I expect there to be quite a waiting list of buyers who are anxious to become a part of such a special opportunity.”

This new development is the latest project by Nan Properties Developer Services, a new division of Nan and Company Properties. The move, per Nan and Company, is meant to help developers oversee sales and marketing of their developments, and positions each project as an independent brand — each leveraged by Nan Properties and the brokerage's top-flight Christie’s International Real Estate affiliation.

“I am elated that Nan Properties Developer Services was awarded this project, said Nancy Almodovar, CEO of Nan and Company Properties,” in a statement. “The Heights is one of Houston’s most thriving neighborhoods, our firm just opened our new ground-up flagship office in The Heights and is only a block away. I look forward to seeing the energy that the residents will add to Yale Street and the neighborhood.”

If Nan and Company Properties rings familiar, real estate watchers will recognize the company as the listing reps of Whitehall Ranch, the sprawling, ultra-luxury, 656-acre ranch just an hour away from Houston. As CultureMap recently reported, the regal ranch is currently on the market for $42 million.

Interested buyers can register for updates on Bella Heights here.

Nan and Company Properties, the number one digitally driven leading real estate company based in Houston, has announced the exclusive sales and marketing of Bella Heights located at 829 Yale Street. Acquired in January 2023 from Steadfast Funding, Dallas-based Bella Houston Heights has assembled a team of experts to bring new life to the previously abandoned site. A rare and unique offering to the neighborhood, Bella Heights will offer residents newly constructed homes in the heart of the highly desired Heights. There will be one-, two- and three-bedrooms homes available including four two level penthouses with expansive terraces and views.

Executive Vice President of Nan Properties Developer Services, Betty M. Harbourt adds, “We have been working with the design team for Bella Heights to develop a superior lifestyle option for individuals seeking a condominium ownership opportunity. With permits in place, construction is underway with homes and an on-site sales center planned to be unveiled early next year. I expect there to be quite a waiting list of buyers who are anxious to become a part of such a special opportunity.”

The condominium homes offer highly designed floorplans with contemporary finishes. Amenities will include a fitness center, guest suite, a social room with an expansive grilling terrace and sun area, a lobby, a front desk attendance, a mail room with package and refrigeration storage for food deliveries, as well as controlled access parking.

Nancy Almodovar, President and CEO of Nan and Company Properties said, “I am elated that Nan Properties Developer Services was awarded this project. The Heights is one of Houston’s most thriving neighborhoods, our firm just opened our new ground-up flagship office in The Heights and is only a block away. I look forward to seeing the energy that the residents will add to Yale Street and the neighborhood.”

Nan Properties Developer Services provides developers a comprehensive and a strategic approach to overseeing the sales and marketing of their development by providing dedicated sales expertise and the buyers of such a project. It positions each development directly to the consumer as an independent brand and its product offering is leveraged by Nan Properties and the brokerage's Christie’s International Real Estate affiliation.

The Developer Services division of Nan Properties prides itself on being a strategic partner working closely as a team from conception to completion providing developers with highly effective services, including concept development, building design, programming, and sales and marketing.

out of reach

This is how long it takes to save for a starter home in Houston right now

Photo courtesy of Tri Pointe Homes

It now takes over a decade to save for your first home.

A new national housing affordability report has confirmed something many renters already know: the possibility of owning a home is moving further out of reach for many renters across America.

Becoming a new homeowner is especially challenging for households in several major U.S. metros — including Houston — where it now takes over a decade to save enough money for a down payment on a starter home.

These findings were unveiled in a new study from The Julian Bond Institute for Financial Equity Research (JBI), a nonprofit research branch of the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). The report comes as a result of its Project 2050 Survey that analyzed "Americans' financial aspirations across generations and racial groups and the obstacles they encounter in achieving them."

JBI said Americans of all generations, racial backgrounds, and ethnicities haven't given up on "this aspect of the American dream," but the journey towards becoming a homeowner is "grow[ing] exceedingly challenging." In addition to saving for a down payment and closing costs, renters must also navigate high mortgage rates and high home prices. All of these combined factors have pushed monthly payments out of reach for most families.

"There has been much coverage of the difficulty aspiring homeowners face in being able to afford the monthly payments on a home loan," the report said. "But less attention has been given to an equally important part of the housing affordability squeeze: The impact that higher home prices and the affordability crisis are having on the ability of families to save enough money to afford the upfront costs of homeownership."

Using the results from a previous 2019 survey and the most recent survey results, JBI examined how many years it would take a typical renter family to save enough money to cover a down payment and closing costs for a starter home in the U.S. and in its 10 biggest metros.

The report found that it now takes the typical Houston renter household 11 years to save for a starter home in 2026, up from 8 years in 2019. And Houston technically appears at the bottom of the list out of the 10 biggest U.S. metros.

"At the opposite end of the spectrum, in Los Angeles, it would take 24 years [to save enough to buy a home]," the report said. "And in all these areas, there has been a sizable increase in the number of years required to save since 2019."

For the typical American household, it now takes 16 years to save for a starter home, a figure that has doubled since 2019. That's based on an American median renter household income of $57,991, and an estimated saving rate of 2.63 percent. The report defines the saving rate as the percentage of a family’s income that can be set aside for the purchase of a home after expenditures, assuming that aspiring homeowner families can devote 75 percent of their savings toward a home purchase.

"[This] translates to annual savings of roughly $1,525," the report found. "For such a family, it would take 16 years to accumulate enough savings to purchase a starter home [at the median price of $335,574]."

Renter households that made $42,750 in income at a 3.96 saving rate would result in $1,693 saved for the purchase of a home in 2019. By those metrics, it would take the typical renter household eight years to save for a starter home at the 2019 median price of $217,520.

This is how many years it takes to save for a starter home in the 10 biggest U.S. metros compared to 2019, from longest to shortest:

Los Angeles: 24 years, up from 14 years in 2019
New York City: 23 years, up from 10 years
Miami: 22 years, up from 10 years
Washington, D.C.: 16 years, up from 8 years
Chicago: 15 years, up from 8 years
Philadelphia: 15 years, up from 8 years
Phoenix: 15 years, up from 8 years
Atlanta: 13 years, up from 7 years
Dallas: 12 years, up from 7 years
Houston: 11 years, up from 8 years