Houston single-family home prices, inventory fall

A new report says that while the values of Houston homes may have fallen in November, the decrease was accompanied by a drop in inventory that bodes well for the market's future.

Altos Research says that single-family home prices in Houston fell 0.91 percent during the month of November, with an average price of just over $216,000. Over the past three months, that number has fallen by 1.9 percent, creating better opportunties for buyers.

However, falling levels of available properties are slowly bringing the Houston real estate market into balance. The report found that the inventory of local single-family homes dropped by more than 4.2 percent compared to the previous month, and has dropped 4.7 percent over the past three months.

On a national basis, Altos' 10-city composite price gauge fell 0.45 percent to $466,454, while inventory fell 3.16 percent. The report adds that an uptick in home prices might start in late January.

Low prices have also been magnified by low mortgage rates. According to the latest report from Freddie Mac, the average interest rate on a fixed-rate 30-year home loan last week was 4.61 percent.