DALLAS — What a difference a decade makes.
In 2012, the ZIP code 75208, which includes the trendy Bishop Arts and Kessler Park neighborhoods southwest of downtown Dallas, had a median home value of $121,658. Today, the 75208 ZIP code in the northwest quadrant of the broader Oak Cliff area of the city has a median home value of $450,303, according to housing data provided by Zillow.
Homes in the area appreciated 270% in the past 10 years, making it the top area for rising values in percentage terms in North Texas.
Jenni Stolarski, a real estate agent for Compass who has lived and sold homes in the area for 18 years, has witnessed the transformation.
"In 2012, we started to see the lessening effects of the (last housing) downturn,” Stolarski said. “That was the beginning of this last arc of appreciation, and it was a huge, long arc.”
The Dallas Business Journal analyzed ZIP codes with the most housing price appreciation as part of our “Hottest Neighborhoods in North Texas” series.
Prior installments in the series have zoomed in on ZIP codes with the highest median home values (hello, Highland Park), and areas with the biggest year-over-year price increases (howdy, Prosper and Poolville).
In today’s rankings, we started with ZIPs that had a median home value of $100,000 or more in 2012. The median value in the fastest appreciating ZIP code almost quadrupled in the past 10 years.
Stolarski has lived and worked in the 75208 area for 18 years and does about 70% of her real estate business there, so she knows it well.
“75208 is the nearest neighborhood with single-family homes to downtown and around Bishop Arts,” Stolarski said. “You've got those two nodes that really anchored those neighborhoods.”
The resurgence of the broader Oak Cliff area dates to the early 2000s, when the city made significant streetscape improvements in Bishop Arts, she said.
In the last decade, and especially the past four years, buyers from out of town have increasingly taken notice of the area, Stolarski said.
“These out-of-town buyers are like, 'Oh, you have all these great things I want,’” she said “You have walkability. 75208 has parks. 75208 has neighborliness. You have proximity to downtown and entertainment districts. Oak Cliff is a great option for that for the price that it was, and I still think it's a great value. So that subgroup of people moving here values the systemic things you have here.”
Older couples, retired and otherwise, also discovered the area in large numbers and moved in from other parts of Dallas or North Texas, Stolarski said.
“These are older couples who have freedom about where they work,” she said. “They’re people who are later in life and they have grown their kids and they're like, 'I want to live somewhere more fun. I don't need to live somewhere where I have to drive everywhere.’”
A third group of buyers consists of folks who want to stay in the neighborhood and needed more space.
“It's people who had been here since 2000 or 2010,” Stolarkski said. “From 2012 to 2022, they go from their original house, a 2/1 that they could afford here, and they upsize."
"Quite a lot of 'intent Oak Cliffers’ who were here around 2010 were ready to stay here, and they sometimes rented until they found the right place,"she added. "They just kept moving up, so when you say the prices (in the neighborhood) went up, well these people also bought bigger houses."
After 75208, the next highest 10-year appreciation occurred in ZIP code 75226, which includes the artsy and edgy Deep Ellum neighborhood on the eastern flank of downtown Dallas. Homes values in that area have risen 240% since 2012, from a median of $117,775 to $400,899, according to Zillow.
Stolarski, who also sells homes in 75226, said it has far fewer single-family homes, so a relatively small number of sales can raise the average median value significantly.
The drivers of home value growth are similar in both of the two top ZIP codes, she said.
"They have benefited also from proximity because they are the next neighborhood east of downtown and they also have a lot of entertainment venues inside of Deep Ellum,” she said. “Anybody looking for something more affordable to purchase in Dallas might look in one of these — the Oak Cliff area or Deep Ellum — for someplace where they can be close to the amenities without the cost.”
In the last 10 years, home values rose by 175% or more in the 38 North Texas ZIP codes contained in the slide show with this story. Values appreciated by over 200% — meaning they more than tripled — in nine of the ZIP codes.
Much of the appreciation has occurred within the past two or three years. And the whims of the market have changed quickly.
In a previous analysis the Business Journal did three years ago, the currently top-ranked 75208 neighborhood didn’t even make the top 25 for 10-year appreciation out of the 171 North Texas ZIP codes studied.
That analysis, also conducted with data from Zillow, had the 75228 ZIP code in East Dallas at the top of the list, with a $204,800 median home value in September 2019, which was a 113% increase from September 2009.
Fast-forward to today, and the 75228 postal zone ranks 20th, with a median home value of $310,786, which is an increase of 182% from the $110,083 median price in 2012.
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