Houston home sales shuffled forward in September after a tepid August.
With continued concerns about the health of the energy sector filling the air like the falling leaves, Houston, and all of Texas, had strong markets, according to most local and state-wide real estate indicators.
In fact, according to the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR), September 2015’s home prices were the best ever seen in a September. The average price of a single-family home in Houston is now $270,901. The city’s median price is $208,000.
In many places, those in the real estate industry hold their collective breaths as summer comes to an end, thinking that the busy season is over. But, in Houston, the year-over-year numbers still show movement.
And it’s the center of the market where observers say the market still is– homes in the $150,000 to $500,000 price range showed vigor, while homes priced on either side of that span declined.
Houston has some stiff economic competition across the Lone Star State. Dallas/Fort Worth is recognized as one of the top five markets for new home construction in the U.S. In fact, the supply of homes in those two cities are the lowest in the state; Dallas has a 2.3 month’s supply of homes, and Fort Worth’s supply is equally tight at 2.4 months. Also, five of the 10 fastest growing economies in the nation are in Texas. Houston is not one of them.
Compared with other big cities in the state, Houston’s numbers for price increases, inventory and sales trail the pack. All of the large metros in Texas beat many of the national benchmarks – for example, the national housing inventory is 5.2 months, and all of the big Lone Star cities come in at four months or less. Houston has been holding at 3.5 months of inventory for the past three months.
Texas home sales had a 9 percent year-over-year increase last month while the median price was up 5.9 percent. Houston showed a 3 percent sales gain, the lowest of the large metros. And, it was beaten to last place for price increases by San Antonio, with Houston’s prices increasing 5.4 percent.
“September showed a bit more vitality than August, and considering that we are comparing to a record 2014 sales year and remain in a climate of energy-related layoffs, I’d say that the Houston real estate market is truly holding its own,” said HAR Chair Nancy Furst in a prepared statement.
“Sales inventory has been stable for the past three months and we expect it to grow in the last quarter of 2015.”
