Houston Real Estate is Still Going Strong!

After HAR released its report citing that Houston would need an infusion of new listings to maintain sky-high sales numbers, the status of the real estate market was uncertain. However, even the addition of the disruptive winter storm that left the city paralyzed couldn’t slow Houston’s real estate. Check out the highlights from HAR’s latest report for all the details!

Single-Family Sales

Would you believe it if we told you that sales increased for the ninth month straight? Well, it’s true! Despite the shrinking supply of homes, delayed closings due to inclement weather, and the first uptick in mortgage rates since last summer, single-family home sales climbed 1.2% year-over-year. 

Among home types, luxury homes again reached top-performing levels among homebuyers. Sales of homes valued at $750,000 or more skyrocketed 64.9% compared to February 2020. The $500,000 – $750,000 segment also performed incredibly well, jumping 55.3% year-over-year.

Average Home Values Increased

Good news if you’re selling: home values just keep on rising in the city of Houston! The average price of a single-family home reached historic highs, with the average price surging 16.2% to $349,963. The median price of a single-family home also increased 12.6% to $275,900. Between the increase in the number of homes sold and the rising values of those homes, it’s no wonder the total dollar volume of sales for the month of February rose 17.3% year-over-year. To put it into perspective, that’s $2.4 billion of total sales!

If you’re thinking about selling your home but haven’t yet had your home priced, it may be a good idea to do so sooner rather than later. Mortgage rates have ticked up slightly, and it’s unclear how this will affect the local real estate market.    

This sophisticated New Orleans-style Greek Revival home located at 627 East 10th Street in the Heights boasts a functional floor plan with three bedrooms, an enormous 3rd floor space with a huge walk-in closet, a game room, a workout space, a study, and more!

Persisting Low Inventory Levels

Even though all signs indicate a healthy, thriving real estate market in Houston, plummeting inventory levels are a growing cause for concern. The total number of active listings fell a massive 37.9% from last year’s 38,517 active listings. “As we head into spring, we urgently need more listings to enter the marketplace or we risk having extremely limited inventory for consumers that want to buy a home now, especially with the prospect of rising mortgage interest rates,” said HAR Chairman Richard Miranda in the latest HAR bulletin.   

With supply dwindling down to a historic low of just 1.6 months compared to 3.3 months last year, it’s getting harder to find a single-family home in Houston. In fact, it’s getting more difficult across the nation as single-family home supply has dipped to a 1.9-months’ supply. 

Since the housing shortage has played a major part in soaring home values, and a huge influx of homes to the real estate market typically occurs between early spring and early summer, this is a fabulous time to put your home on the market. Circa Real Estate is more than happy to chat with you about your home and how it compares to those in your neighborhood.