Houston Housing Market Breaks Records

Houston’s housing market appears to be weathering the oil slump.  Single-family home sales totaled 8,147 in July — up 6.7 percent from July 2014 and Houston’s highest one-month sales volume ever, the Houston Association of Realtors reported Aug. 12. The previous all-time record, set in June, was 7,935.

Total property sales also increased 6 percent year over year to 9,653, and total dollar volume was up 11.9 percent to $2.69 billion.

Additionally, single-family home prices also hit records for a July in Houston. The average sales price was up 6.3 percent year over year to $293,790, and the median sales price increased 8.6 percent to $220,000. Homes priced at $500,000 and above saw the largest increase in sales, up 18.3 percent, compared to roughly 12 percent for those priced from $150,000 to $499,999. Sales of home priced below $150,000 declined.

Meanwhile, supply continued to increase, with total active listings up 12.7 percent year over year to 33,679. Inventory reached a 3.4-month supply, up 15 percent from the three-month supply in July 2014. Months of inventory is an estimate of the time it would take to deplete the current active housing inventory based on the previous 12 months of sales.