The Houston market experienced a double digit decline in sales as buyers are pulling back due to both seasonal and oil price pressure. Days on market fr properties that sold is up from 51 to 53 days from a year ago, and months inventory for sale remains at 3.5 months compared to 5.2 months nationally. Though this looks encouraging, the total number of sales was down 11% from October 2014, and the dollar volume down 8.3%. Pending sales closings are also down, pointing to a continuing slow down as the year finishes. The supply of homes for sale is up 19% from a year ago, with 33,692 active listings compared to 28,333 a year ago.
Sales are declining across all price segments. Lower priced sales (under 150K are down about 25% due to a lack of inventory for sale. The big change is that the 150K + sales are now declining for the first time, though moderately. This is giving buyers the chance to negotiate price and terms and to be more selective. Despite slowing sales, the October 2015 median price reached$205,000, up 6.6% from the $192,300 median price a year ago.
Sales of townhomes and condos plummeted 17.3% from a year ago. The number of rentals going through the MLS was up 4% compared to a year ago, but the rents were stable, remaining at an average of $1708. This marks the first month that rents have not increased from the same month a year ago in many years.
Most properties asking under $175K still receive multiple offers within a few days of listing. Demand by both owner occupants and landlord investors remains torrid.
