Louisville’s Top 10 Most Expensive Neighborhoods of 2015

By TRE PRYOR | January 5, 2016 6:00 am

I find it fun each year to stop and take a look back and see how our Louisville real estate market fared. There’s so many different vantage points from which to choose.

In my Insider Louisville’s 2015 Real Estate Year in Review, I primarily focused on aggregate stats for home sales and values. If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend it as a good synopsis of all that happened last year.

Next week we’ll look ahead at what 2016 has in store. Could the rising interest rates put a damper on our stellar sales track? Could the paltry offering of available properties for purchase keep Louisville renters on the sideline? We’ll tackle these questions and more in my next piece.

But for now, let’s do some window shopping.

I think it’s fair to say all of us have our eyes on what might be our next home. It could be your dream home! It may be a property that’s so out of reach, the only way to get it would be if an unknown, rich relative suddenly appears out of nowhere and bestows a giant inheritance upon you. Either that or a lottery jackpot, right?

Even though it’s unlikely, it doesn’t mean we can’t have fun checking out the most amazing neighborhoods in Louisville.

BEHIND THE NUMBERS

I began this practice in 2013, then carried it on again the following year. At the end of this piece, I’ll share which neighborhoods held a spot in each of these Top 10 rankings and which new ones joined the high-rollers club.

First, some ground rules. I only included Jefferson County neighborhoods that had at least three homes sell during the year for at least $500,000. I then took all those sale prices and averaged them to build the rankings.

In 2015, there were 415 homes sold above this mark in Louisville. That’s a big jump from the 346 homes the year before.

The neighborhood with the most homes in this survey was Norton Commons with 40. In these rankings, Norton Commons came in as Louisville’s 17th most expensive neighborhood.

And now the countdown…

10) MOCKINGBIRD GARDENS

Photo of home in Mockingbird Gardens Louisville KY — Mockingbird Gardens is a small neighborhood off Highway 42 by the Crescent Hill golf course. One home (not pictured) sold for $1,550,000 this year and really brought the average up. | Photo by Tre Pryor)

Average Sale Price: $761,013
Number of Homes Sold Above $500k in 2015: 8

9) LAKE FOREST

Photo of home in Lake Forest Louisville KY — Lake Forest is Louisville’s largest neighborhood. It is also one of Louisville’s most expensive, though a small percentage of homes can still be purchased below $500,000 as well. | Photo by Tre Pryor

Average Sale Price: $772,873
Number of Homes Sold Above $500k in 2015: 31

8) INDIAN HILLS

Photo of home in Indian Hills Louisville KY — Indian Hills is another Louisville neighborhood with a wide range of home prices, especially after annexing the less expensive neighborhood to the northeast a few years back. | Photo by Tre Pryor

Average Sale Price: $811,642
Number of Homes Sold Above $500k in 2015: 14

7) CHEROKEE TRIANGLE

Photo of the Daniel Boone statue in Cherokee Triangle Louisville KY — Condos, bungalows, brick traditional homes and, oh yes, stately mansions can all be found in the Cherokee Triangle — a Louisville gem of a neighborhood. | Photo by Tre Pryor

Average Sale Price: $851,563
Number of Homes Sold Above $500k in 2015: 8

6) ANCHORAGE

Photo of home in Anchorage Louisville KY — In the 1940s, Anchorage was a quaint little town out in the country. Today it’s practically in the heart of the city with all the outward expansion. It’s still a sought-after location for many in search of luxury living. | Photo by Tre Pryor

Average Sale Price: $934,139
Number of Homes Sold Above $500k in 2015: 18

5) GLENVIEW

Photo of home in GlenviewLouisville KY — No. 2 in 2013, then first in 2014, Glenview fell to No. 5 in this year’s survey. But that doesn’t change that it’s home to some of Louisville’s most amazing homes. | Photo by Tre Pryor

Average Sale Price: $954,250
Number of Homes Sold Above $500k in 2015: 4

4) SPRING FARM LAKE

Photo of home in Spring Farm Lake Louisville KY — Home to this past year’s Homearama, Spring Farm Lake is a continuation of high-end homes that began on Spring Farm Road about 10 years ago. Just remember that new construction costs have risen lately, so each square foot of luxury will now cost you more than it used to. | Photo by Tre Pryor

Average Sale Price: $963,158
Number of Homes Sold Above $500k in 2015: 8

3) SPRING FARM PLACE

Photo of home in Spring Farm Place Louisville KY — Spring Farm Place is the first neighborhood that began a confusing theme of similarly named subdivisions located off Wolf Pen. This subdivision has been home to new construction luxury in Louisville’s East End for the past decade. | Photo by Tre Pryor

Average Sale Price: $1,062,500
Number of Homes Sold Above $500k in 2015: 4

2) CHEROKEE HILLS

Only a handful of homes trade hands each year in this neighborhood nestled between Bonnycastle and Seneca Gardens. As it turns out, when the 7,000-square-foot mansion on 4 acres sells for $2.3m, it tends to bring up the area’s average. | Photo by ©Listing Broker

Average Sale Price: $1,093,800
Number of Homes Sold Above $500k in 2015: 5

1) HARROD’S GLEN

Photo of home in Harrod's Glen Louisville KY — High-end neighborhoods tend to take longer to complete. Harrod’s Glen was no exception, especially with its unfortunate timing alongside the housing recession. But if you drive through it today, you’ll see some of the most beautiful homes in Louisville. | Photo by ©Listing Broker

Average Sale Price: $1,911,667
Number of Homes Sold Above $500k in 2015: 3

INTERESTING FINDINGS

In the end, it wasn’t even close. Harrod’s Glen is by far the most expensive neighborhood in Louisville. Even as the East End bridge nears completion, the additional traffic isn’t stopping high-end buyers from snatching up these incredible homes just minutes from the Gene Snyder Expressway.

Now let’s see how this year’s most expensive Louisville neighborhoods compare to past years.

2015	2014	2013
1	Harrod’s Glen	Glenview	Spring Farm
2	Cherokee Hills	Mockingbird Valley	Glenview
3	Spring Farm Place	Glenview Acres	Mockingbird Valley
4	Spring Farm Lake	Bonniewood	Bonnycastle
5	Glenview	Mockingbird Gardens	Anchorage Woods
6	Anchorage	Anchorage	Mockingbird Gardens
7	Cherokee Triangle	Indian Hills	Indian Hills
8	Indian Hills	Woodstone	Cherokee Gardens
9	Lake Forest	Sutherland	Anchorage
10	Mockingbird Gardens	Rolling Fields	Hurstborurne

In closing, here are the remaining Louisville neighborhoods from our report and how they finished the year.

WATERFRONT PARK PLACE $680,500
ROLLING FIELDS $671,700
HIGHLANDS $648,393
OWL COVE ESTATES $648,333
CHEROKEE GARDENS $642,857
BEECH SPRING FARM $632,289
NORTON COMMONS $631,851
SUTHERLAND $620,893
WOLF PEN SPRINGS $610,667
INNISBROOK $599,518
OXMOOR WOODS $599,083
LOCUST CREEK $598,109
LANDIS LAKES $580,250
MOCKINGBIRD VALLEY $551,874
SHAKES RUN $544,851
POLO FIELDS $544,500
ROCK SPRINGS $544,400
THE FALLS AT OLD HENRY $540,517
SENECA GARDENS $527,333
MOCKINGBIRD TERRACE $516,978