2017 Recap

Happy Holidays, Houston!  2017 has been a year full of memory making events – we hosted the Super Bowl, won the World Series, saw a solar eclipse, had a hurricane and woke up to snow. And while some of these events may have changed parts of us, our resilient city remains unwavering, against the odds.

Our biggest hurdle right now is that our housing inventory, or the number of properties available, is diminished. Our current inventory in up to 3.7 months from last month’s 3.6 months, but down for last year’s 4.3 months. Housing inventory across the U.S. currently stands at a 3.9-months supply, according to the latest report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Buyers are aplenty and renters are even more numerous. Property sales are up 3.3 percent with gains in all categories except those priced $100-150K and over $750K. While there may be a preference for existing houses versus newly constructed homes - people are still rushing to find new dwellings at an affordable price.  Housing construction permit requests have increased since August signaling growth in the coming months. Most economists will tell you that, added together, low inventory and high demand equal higher prices which, in some instances, can cause the number of buyers to decrease as they are priced out of the market. The may also say that with the recent oil bust, Houston lacks consumer confidence, but this is Texas, y’all! We’re a little different here. Houston’s median family home cost has only risen a miniscule 0.3%.

The Houston area created over 40,000 jobs in October, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. That’s the largest single-month job gain on record. Most of these jobs are in skilled trade as homes are rebuilt, salvaged or renovated, and construction, though many others are in hospitality and food industry. Oil is at an 8 month high as of October, also boosting Houston’s economy – though not up to pre-recession highs.  BUT - as the price of oil increases, we will see more jobs in the energy sector too, more consumer confidence, and an even greater push toward recovery. The Greater Houston Partnership has published their Economy at a Glance which outlines these and other factors affecting Houston’s economy. At the beginning of December, they held the Economic Forecast with the theme of RESILIENCE – may it ever be synonymous with Houston.