By Katherine Feser - Houston Chronicle January 21, 2014 | Updated: January 21, 2014 10:14pm Home sales across the Houston area broke a pre-recession record in 2013, as a booming economy and a buying frenzy in many neighborhoods pushed up prices and created an unprecedented shortage in the housing market. Sales of single-family homes were up 17.4 percent over a year earlier, the Houston Association of Realtors reported Tuesday. Boosted by a strong December, the regions 73,232 sales exceeded the previous record set in 2006, when 72,376 houses changed hands. Meanwhile, the local housing inventory - defined as the length of time it would take to sell everything on the market at the current pace - continued to shrink in December, falling to a record low of 2.6 months. An inventory of about six months is considered a balanced market. Steve Hardcastle, a Re/Max Westside broker who sells homes from the Energy Corridor to Katy, said he has never in three decades seen the market this tight. Prices are rising on a monthly basis in neighborhoods along Memorial between Gessner and Texas 6 such as Nottingham Forest, Barkers Landing and Fleetwood, which are popular among employees relocating to Houston, Hardcastle said. Much of the activity is spurred by expansions by the likes of BP, Shell and ConocoPhillips. A lot of the nice executive homes that come on the market are getting multiple offers within 24 hours, Hardcastle said. There are people that want to be in a specific neighborhood because of the area or the proximity to work or the schools, and theres just nothing that would fit their family and their budget, so theyre basically staying in corporate housing and waiting for something to come on the market. Lack of inventory is causing some people who want to upsize or downsize to stay put because they cant find anything suitable. Theyve heard the stories about houses selling in one day so they wait until the last minute to put their house on the market, Hardcastle said. In a more typical market, theyd start listing a house three to six months before they wanted to move. December sales totaled 5,813, up 14.3 percent compared with a year earlier. That marked the 31st consecutive monthly increase. All-time median high The median home price reached $188,500 in December, up 10.9 percent over December 2012, said the association, which tracks homes sold through the Multiple Listing Service in Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties, as well as parts of Brazoria, Galveston, Waller and Wharton counties. The price was a record for the month of December and close to the all-time median high of $192,410 set in June. Houstons new home sales continue to outpace the rest of the country because of robust job growth thanks to strong economic fundamentals, low resale inventory partially driven by investor activity, high rental rates, and high affordability resulting from continued low mortgage rates, said David Jarvis, Houston director of housing consulting firm Metrostudy. All of these factors have been pushing homebuyers toward new housing, invigorating demand and pushing prices upward. HAR chairwoman Chaille Ralph also cited the addition of more than 86,000 local jobs last year in fueling the residential real-estate boom. Our average and median home prices are less than other parts of the country, she said, so its a good buy in pretty much any part of Houston. The median single-family price remains below the national median of $207,300.Houstons median price puts it between two markets that are making strong recoveries: Las Vegas, at $181,900, and Phoenix, at $191,700. With all the buzz about a sellers market locally, Sandra Mayer felt the time was right to sell her three-bedroom, two-bath home in the Ashford Hills neighborhood in the Energy Corridor. She moved to an apartment because she was tired of the maintenance that comes with being a homeowner. Hers was the only for-sale sign in the small west Houston neighborhood, and she sold the house for $191,000 in November. While slightly below her asking price, it was well above the $165,000 she paid for it in 2009. As prices rose, sales of pricier homes posted the most robust gains. Prices leaped Sales of homes priced from $250,000 to $499,900 shot up by 40.7 percent in December over the previous year, the association reported. Homes priced at $500,000 and above were up by 29.8 percent. The area also saw a record number of houses selling for $1 million and above last year. The total of 1,270 was up 35 percent over the 938 in 2012, an analysis of MLS sales by John Daugherty, Realtors found. The only price segment that declined was among homes priced below $80,000, which fell by 29.4 percent, the realty association reported. As prices rise, theres not a lot of inventory or availability in that price range, said Ralph, also a broker with Heritage Texas Properties. Youre looking at smaller homes in outlying areas. Realty agents who remember Houstons real estate boom of the early 1980s - and the subsequent crash - say things are different this time. Its a much more sustainable increase, Hardcastle said. Back then, the prices were going up a lot, but a lot of it was because of inflation and the interest rates were 17 percent. ... Right now, it feels like its more of a market correction in a positive way. Contact the Author Submit a Tip Suggest a Correction
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 04:08:51 +0000