What did homes in River Oaks, Texas actually sell for?
Fifty-three single-family homes closed in River Oaks (76114) in the twelve months ending 30 September 2026, at a median of $250,000 — about $201 per square foot on a 1,380-square-foot house built in 1951, under contract in 27 days at 96.7% of the original asking price. But 37 of the 90 properties that went to market never sold — 41.1%, the weakest ratio of any west-side city tracked here. Most of those 37 had already cut their price, and they ended up asking almost exactly what the houses that sold got per square foot. (NTREIS, pulled 14 October 2026.)
Written by Eric Duran — Founder and Realtor, The Fort Real Estate | 10 November 2026
River Oaks is its own incorporated city — a little over a square mile inside Fort Worth, with its own city hall and its own school district. Most people assume it is a Fort Worth neighborhood, and that costs money in two places: the tax rate and the school assignment. The headline figures and the drive to the NAS JRB gate are on our River Oaks market page. This post is about the 41%, because the usual explanation for a number that high turns out not to fit.
Four in ten properties never sold — and most of them had already cut
First, the number itself. Counted listing by listing, 58 listings were cancelled or expired against 53 that closed, which reads as 52.3%. That is inflated: 17 properties carried more than one listing in the window, so the same house gets counted twice. Grouped by property, the honest figure is 37 of 90, or 41.1% — still the weakest close ratio in this dataset, just not a coin flip.
The standard reading of a failure rate that high is an opening-price problem, and it is usually right. Here it is not what the data says:
- The 53 that sold — median original ask $270,000, median sale $250,000, or $200.80 per square foot achieved. Median 1,380 sq ft, built 1951, 27 days to contract.
- The 37 that didn’t — median original ask $259,009, median final ask after reductions $243,000, or $200.99 per square foot. Median 1,370 sq ft, built 1946, a median 93 cumulative days on market.
Those two per-foot figures are nineteen cents apart. The houses that failed opened lower in absolute dollars than the ones that sold, on the same size lots at the same size, 27 of the 37 reduced at least once — a median cut of 4.4% — and they landed on the number the market was paying. Then they came off anyway.
That is a different problem from an overpriced listing, and the two call for different responses. A cut made late rarely undoes an opening number set too high, and that argument holds. But here the cut arrived at a defensible price and still produced no buyer, which points at something the MLS record does not carry: condition, deferred maintenance, financing obstacles, access during showings. Price is the variable everyone can see, so it absorbs the blame for problems that live elsewhere.
Among the houses that did sell, speed and price moved together in the ordinary way: the 17 under contract inside two weeks closed at a median 100% of their original asking price, the 12 that took 15 to 30 days got 95.2%, and four that ran past 90 days landed at 87.7%. So if a River Oaks listing is still sitting at week six, the question is no longer only the price — it is whether reducing, holding or withdrawing is the right move, and a reduction is not automatically the answer here.
What separated sold from unsold was vintage, not square footage
Sort the 90 properties by size and the failure rate barely moves: 44.0% under 1,100 square feet, 39.1% from 1,100 to 1,399, 40.9% from 1,400 to 1,799, 40.0% at 1,800 and up. Size explains nothing. Sort the same 90 by the year built and it separates:
- Built before 1945 — 31 properties, 17 never closed (54.8%)
- Built 1945–1959 — 41 properties, 15 never closed (36.6%)
- Built 2000 or later — 17 properties, 5 never closed (29.4%)
The newer stock also sold on different terms. The 12 closings built since 2000 — eight of them in 2025 or 2026 — ran a median $414,900 on 2,069 square feet at $219.75 per foot and 100% of the original asking price, nine of the 12 closing at or above what they first asked, in a median 27.5 days. The 40 built before 1960 ran a median $232,500 on 1,241 square feet at $199.40 per foot and 95.1% of asking, and only eight of the 40 reached their original number.
So the River Oaks story is not that sellers here ask too much. It is a pre-war and post-war housing stock being slowly replaced, with buyers treating the two halves as different products: infill construction is paid in full, original houses are negotiated, and the oldest of them are the likeliest to go to market and come back unsold.
This does not travel. Over in Ridgmar, in 76116, price per foot ran flat across every era and the opening number was what separated outcomes. A pattern established in one market is a hypothesis in the next, not a rule — which is why a per-foot figure borrowed from a neighborhood is a screening number, not a valuation method.
Two limits. Fifty-three closings is a modest sample and the vintage groups inside it are smaller still — 17 properties built since 2000 is thin, and it is stated as thin. And this is MLS data: what was listed and closed through the system, not private sales.
The city line is worth about $828 a year
River Oaks carries the highest combined property tax rate of the west-side cities. For tax year 2026, per the Tarrant Appraisal District’s published rate schedule, a River Oaks address pays the City of River Oaks at 0.818931 and Castleberry ISD at 1.246900 per $100 of valuation, on top of the county units — Tarrant County 0.186, the hospital district 0.159, Tarrant County College 0.120, the water district 0.0273 — for a combined 2.558%. A Fort Worth address in Fort Worth ISD, same county units, comes to 2.227%.
That is a gap of 0.331 of a point — about $828 a year on a $250,000 taxable value, roughly $69 a month on an escrow payment, and about $1,324 on $400,000. Exemptions change the actual bill, so treat those as a difference in rate rather than a quote, and take rate questions to the Tarrant County tax office or your own tax advisor. This is a Realtor’s read of published rates, not tax advice.
The school district is the other half of the surprise: Castleberry ISD serves the city, not Fort Worth ISD. The district’s own description of its boundaries states that it “includes the City of River Oaks, much of Sansom Park, and a portion of Fort Worth.” Attendance is assigned address by address, so confirm the campus with the district before you write an offer rather than relying on a listing.
Standing inventory says the same from the other side: 24 active or pending single-family listings at a median $258,500 on 1,269 square feet, built 1951, after a median 37 days, 11 already reduced — asking $208.90 per square foot against the $200.80 the market paid. One townhome was also listed and is reported separately; no townhome or condominium closed in the window, so every figure above is detached single-family.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median home price in River Oaks, Texas?
The median single-family sale was $250,000 across 53 closings in the twelve months ending 30 September 2026, with sale prices running from $120,000 to $774,000 (NTREIS, pulled 14 October 2026). The median home was 1,380 square feet, built in 1951, on 0.19 acres, and went under contract in 27 days at 96.7% of its original asking price. No condominium or townhome closed in the window, so every figure is detached single-family.
Why do so many River Oaks listings come off the market without selling?
Of the 90 distinct single-family properties that finished a listing in the twelve months to 30 September 2026, 37 never closed — 41.1%. The usual explanation is an opening price set too high, but the data does not support that here: 27 of the 37 reduced at least once and ended up asking a median $200.99 per square foot, against the $200.80 the houses that sold achieved. What does separate them is age — pre-1945 properties failed at 54.8% against 29.4% for those built since 2000.
What school district serves River Oaks?
Castleberry ISD, which is a separate district from Fort Worth ISD. The district’s published description of its boundaries names the City of River Oaks explicitly. Attendance is assigned address by address, so confirm the campus for the exact address with the district before making an offer.
What are property taxes in River Oaks?
The combined 2026 rate is about 2.558% — City of River Oaks 0.818931 and Castleberry ISD 1.246900 per $100 of valuation, plus Tarrant County 0.186, the hospital district 0.159, Tarrant County College 0.120 and the water district 0.0273, per the Tarrant Appraisal District’s 2026 rate schedule. A Fort Worth address in Fort Worth ISD comes to about 2.227%, so the difference on a $250,000 taxable value is roughly $828 a year before exemptions. Take rate and exemption questions to the Tarrant County tax office or your own tax advisor.
If you own an older house in River Oaks, the lesson in that 41% is not that the market is closed to you — it is that a price cut may not be the tool the problem calls for, and working out which it is before you list is worth more than the first reduction. If you would rather just ask, send me a text — or call 817-703-1333. A market analysis is an opinion of value, not an appraisal.
About Eric Duran
Eric Duran is the founder and Realtor behind The Fort Real Estate, a boutique brokerage in Fort Worth, Texas. A former firefighter and paramedic, he’s guided buyers and sellers across West Fort Worth since 2020 — from TCU, Colonial, and Tanglewood to Ridglea, Arlington Heights, and the new builds out in Aledo. He has been recognized as a Fort Worth Real Producers Top Agent in 2025 and 2026, a list ranked by yearly MLS sales volume and limited to the top 1,000 agents in the market, and was featured in the magazine as an “Agent on the Rise” in May 2025. Reach Eric at 817-703-1333 or thefortre.com.