Michelle Christenson/Caller-Times file The average purchase price for a single-family home in Port Aransas last year was $215,586, according to Port Aransas Realtors. That’s tens of thousands more than homes in Rockport and Padre Isles on Padre Island. Click to enlarge graphic

Port A’s price is high, but waterfront properties are going fast

Realtors say average price for a single-family home last year was $215,586

February 1, 2003
By Naomi Snyder
Caller-Times

Home buyers, condo purchasers, you name it, they love Port Aransas. Compared to other waterfront locales, the city is the most expensive place to buy a home.

The average purchase price for a single-family home in Port Aransas last year was $215,586, according to Port Aransas Realtors. That was more than $50,000 above the average price for a home in Rockport and more than $30,000 above the average price of a home in Padre Isles on Padre Island.

While waterfront land values are increasing in other areas, none of them has quite topped Port Aransas. The city has remained a popular destination, even while other areas continue to incite buyer and developer interest.

"The main factor in Port Aransas is the Gulf of Mexico and the accessibility,’’ said appraiser Ramona Singleterry.

She said the difference between Padre Island and Port Aransas is that boaters need to go to Port Aransas to get to the Gulf of Mexico.

The sleepy ambiance, the seafood restaurants and the small-town feel probably don’t hurt.

‘Upper-end’ homes
For Port Aransas Realty owner Becky Corder, 60 percent of homebuyers are second-home buyers. They have money to spend, and they’re accustomed to higher prices in other beachfront towns.

Island Moorings, a bayside subdivision, also helped boost the average sale price figure for the city. The average price of a home in Island Moorings is $451,364.

"We’ve had some really upper-end things to sell," Corder said.

Even the low-end stuff isn’t all that low.

The cheapest home for sale early in January was a sole cottage for $47,500, not on the water and containing about 650 square feet. The next cheapest thing was a $90,000 two-bedroom house. The cheapest thing on the water was a condominium with a "water view" for $135,000.

Condominiums are numerous in Port Aransas. The average price for one in Port Aransas was $159,839 last year, and 109 of them sold.

Easier permit process
Some in the development world say an easier permitting process in Port Aransas has made development there easier, as well.

Stan Starrett, the developer of the Beach Walk subdivisions in Port Aransas, said he tried to do the same type of subdivision in Corpus Christi but was met with resistance by city staff.

"We took it to the city and it was a nightmare," he said. "That’s what’s so sad about Corpus. They’re sitting on gold mines with all this land. But there’s always a way for it not to get done."

Michael Gunning, Corpus Christi’s director of planning, said the city has a different infrastructure system and is much larger. Dune permits have to go through the county, while Port Aransas handles them on a local level. But Gunning said the city is establishing a central, one-stop development center in the Frost Bank Building downtown that will make it easier to get permits.

There also is evidence of increasing interest in waterfront land outside of Port Aransas.

The Packery Channel area east of Park Road 22 has seen some speculative activity as the city’s plan to dredge the channel nears. The channel would give boats on Padre Island a quicker avenue to the Gulf of Mexico.

‘Poised and waiting’
Singleterry said the average price of a lot near Packery Channel was $77,180 in 2001 and $120,500 in 2002. The numbers of lots sold in the two years were 19 and 16, respectively.

"A lot of people are poised and waiting for Packery Channel," Singleterry said.

The price of the home also depends on how close it is to the water, as much as the likelihood for further development.

Lewis Robinson, who is building a $50 million Rockport hotel and resort, estimates waterfront lots are two to three times the price of inland lots near the water.

"Property that has water on it, or has a stream running through it, or a lake, is far more valuable than property that doesn’t have water," he said.

More development expected
Starrett sells lots in his subdivisions for $500,000 for land closest to the ocean and $150,000 for land closer to the road.

In Robinson’s Key Allegro subdivision, lots are going for $200,000 to $600,000, and that’s without a house. Now, people are tearing down $200,000 homes to build $500,000 homes in the same spot, Robinson said.

He predicts that further development will crawl down from Rockport to Aransas Pass and out across Mustang Island.

All of it, he said, will be developed at some point. All for the love of the water.

Contact Naomi Snyder at 886-4316 or snydern@caller.com