The Houston market is on course to be the strongest ever in 2017. We now have a 4.1 month supply of housing for sale, compared to 3.4 months a year ago, as rising prices bring more property to the market. We currently have 41,257 properties for sale, up 17.4% from May of 2016.
The median price also continues to go up, where half the houses sell for more, and half for less. The May median sales price was $235,000, which is 4.4% higher than a year ago, and indicating that prices are increasing at a strong pace. Pending sales are up 18.2% from a year ago, indicating that the market has forward momentum.
Sales of houses priced under $100,000 were unchanged 2016 as a result of little inventory available in this price range. Sales of $100,000 to $150,000 houses were up5.3 %, again a sign of too little inventory available to investors and entry level buyers, rather than market softness. We continue to find that entry level priced homes attract multiple offers the first few days on the market. Most owner occupant buyers are using FHA loans, and so the tighter appraisals are limiting what sellers can get for the property compared to what buyers are willing to pay, and the time between going under contract and closing can be 60 to 90 days. Investors are also actively paying retail prices for single family rentals.
Houses selling for $150,000 to $250,000 saw a 13.7 % increase in number sold. Sales of houses selling for $250,000 to $500,000 increased 12.9%, while those $500,000 to $750,000 increased 8.5%. Houses priced at $750,000+ saw increased sales of 27.6% compared to a year ago. It’s clear that the economy related slow down in higher end home sales has ended.
The number of single family homes leased through HAR.com went up 31% from last FMay, though the average rent dropped 4.2% $1779 from a year ago.
Houston Real Estate Highlights in May
- Single-family home sales rose 11.5 percent year-over-year with 8,156 units sold;
- Total property sales increased 12.3 percent with 9,744 units sold;
- Total dollar volume jumped 17.4 percent to $2.8 billion;
- The single-family home median price rose 4.4 percent to a record high of $235,000;
- The single-family home average price climbed 4.3 percent to $302,362, which was the second highest level of all time (highest was $302,629 in June 2015);
- Single-family homes months of inventory grew to a 4.1-months supply, the highest level since November 2012;
- Townhome/condominium sales surged 16.5 percent, with the average price up 3.1 percent to $206,363 and the median price up 0.9 percent to $163,500;
- Leases of single-family homes soared 31.0 percent with average rent down 4.2 percent to $1,779;
- Volume of townhome/condominium leases rocketed 46.2 percent with average rent down 6.7 percent to $1,565.
