In Highland Park and University Park, the two municipalities that form the Park Cities just north of downtown Dallas, the makeup of the buyer pool for upper-tier homes has shifted. According to Eve Sullivan, an agent at Allie Beth Allman & Associates with 26 years in the market, most of the buyers she sees at the upper end are relocating from out of state.
Those buyers are coming largely from the West Coast, the Northeast, and Florida, and much of that movement appears tied to corporate relocations rather than individual preference alone. That concentration raises a practical question: if those relocations slow, what happens to the prices they created?
Coastal Buyers Reprice Market
Sullivan describes the repricing effect in plain terms. Buyers arriving from those markets saw a discount compared to what they had left behind, and that perception pushed prices up. Those prices have not come back down.
“They thought our prices were cheap, and it drove all of our prices up, and they haven’t really gone down since then,” Sullivan says. The median home price in Highland Park now sits around $4.6 million, according to Sullivan. Individual transactions have reached $25.5 million this year, and a new listing is coming to market at just under $32 million.
At her current listing, priced at $11,995,000 on Belclaire, the pattern holds. “The local movement isn’t as great,” she says. “It’s more out-of-town movement.” She is seeing buyers from the Bay Area and Seattle in particular, along with some from Palm Beach.
Financial Sector Fuels Demand
Sullivan points to a wave of corporate relocations that she believes will sustain upward pressure on prices. She says financial firms, including Goldman Sachs, are opening offices in Dallas. “JP Morgan is also moving several people here,” she adds. “I just think it’s a business-friendly state and so it’s going to drive more people to our area, and it’s going to continue to increase our real estate prices, especially for executives.”
Sullivan describes this trend as “y’all Street,” a nickname for Dallas’s growing financial sector. She also cites Texas’s lack of a state income tax as a driver of corporate moves. “People are relocating here for business reasons, and they’re relocating companies because we don’t have any income tax in the state of Texas,” she says.
More broadly, financial institutions establishing or expanding Dallas operations tend to bring executives whose compensation levels and housing expectations are calibrated to New York or San Francisco, not to historical Dallas norms.
Tech Sector Adds Momentum
Finance is not the only industry reshaping the buyer pool. Sullivan says many of the Bay Area and Seattle buyers she is seeing are tied to the tech sector’s expansion into Texas.
Tech companies are also establishing offices close to the Park Cities, letting residents commute without using a highway. “Tech markets are moving to Texas with offices down on Turtle Creek, which are very close,” she says. “You don’t have to get on a highway to get to work.”
Land Scarcity Limits Supply
Those demand-side pressures run into a hard supply constraint. The Park Cities have little developable land left. Sullivan says land prices per square foot have increased significantly in recent years, and the land itself now represents the majority of a property’s value.
Sullivan sold two adjacent lots on Beverly Drive last year, each measuring 70 by 225 feet, for $5.5 million combined to a builder. New teardown opportunities have become increasingly difficult to find as years of construction have consumed available sites.
That scarcity means even if external demand softened, the supply side offers little relief. Little new land is entering the market, and builders who do acquire lots pass the higher land cost through to the final sale price.
Pace Varies by Price
Price tier makes a noticeable difference in how quickly homes move. Sullivan says homes priced below $9 million are generally selling faster. Even just outside the Park Cities, she says she received three offers on a listing in Greenland Hills before it hit the market.
Above that threshold, she says, inventory is thinner, and homes are taking longer to sell. Sullivan adds that pricing still matters: “Generally, like everywhere in the United States, if it’s way overpriced, it will sit.”
Sellers, in her observation, still tend to believe they are in a seller’s market. She says the Park Cities are returning to more seasonal patterns after the nonstop activity of 2021.
Looking Ahead
Sullivan believes relocation-driven demand at the upper end will continue shaping the market in the near term. “We’re just looking at some of the relocation that’s about to occur in the next two years,” she says.
If that holds, prices at the upper end may be shaped as much by economic conditions in California, New York, and other markets sending relocations to Dallas as by local factors. For now, the answer to what happens if those relocations slow will depend on the pace of corporate moves to the region.
About the Expert: Eve Sullivan is a 26-year veteran of the Park Cities market in Dallas, Texas, with Allie Beth Allman & Associates.
This article is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or investment advice. The views and opinions expressed herein reflect those of the individuals quoted and do not represent an endorsement of any company, product, or service mentioned. Readers should conduct their own due diligence and consult qualified professionals before making any investment decisions.
