MLS Report for August 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Seasonal Summer Home Shopping, First-Time Home Buyers Buoy Houston Real Estate Market in August |
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Single-family home median price rises for the fourth straight month |
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HOUSTON (September 15, 2009) The Houston real estate market showed continued signs in August of attempting to break free from the downward trend in property sales that first began in September 2007. Boosted by seasonal summer home buying, including an influx of first-time home buyers taking advantage of the federal governments soon-to-expire $8,000 tax credit, the August volume of single-family home sales across the greater Houston area slid 10.1 percent compared to August 2008, according to new monthly data compiled by the Houston Association of REALTORS® (HAR). That follows Julys 6.1 percent (corrected) drop, which was the smallest decline since the market downturn began in September 2007. Total property sales tumbled 11.0 percent in August on a year-over-year basis following last months 5.1 percent drop, which was the smallest rate of decline since November 2007 when it was off by 10.2 percent. August Monthly Market Comparison Month-end pending salesthose listings expected to close within the next 30 daystotaled 3,901, which was 9.3 percent lower than last year. While that most likely means sales will be down again in September, the effects of Hurricane Ike on the local real estate business one year ago make it difficult to forecast. The months inventory of single-family homes for August came in at 6.5 months, down from 6.7 months one year earlier, and remains much healthier than the national months inventory of single-family homes of 9.4 months, reported by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). |
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* Months inventory estimates the number of months it will take to deplete current active inventory based on the prior 12 months sales activity. This figure is representative of the single-family homes market. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
August sales of single-family homes in Houston totaled 5,058, down 10.1 percent from August 2008, and accounted for the 24th consecutive monthly drop. However, on a month-over-month basis, that volume is the third highest of 2009, and the 10.1 percent decline is the second smallest fluctuation of the year following Julys 6.1 percent (corrected) slide. HAR also reports existing home statistics for the single-family home segment of the real estate market. In August 2009, existing single-family home sales totaled 4,328, an 8.3 percent decrease from August 2008. At $155,000, the median sales price for existing homes in the Houston area rose 4.0 percent compared to last year. The average sales price of $202,477 for the month dipped 1.6 percent from its August 2008 level. Townhouse/Condo Update The median price of a townhouse/condominium fell 10.3 percent year-over-year to $122,000. The average price dropped 9.7 percent to $153,184 from August 2008 to August 2009. Lease Property Update Houston Real Estate Milestones in August The median price of a single-family home rose for the fourth straight month to the third highest level of 2009 ($160,880); The average price of a single-family home reached its third highest level of the year ($213,396); Month-over-month volume of single-family home sales reached the third highest level of 2009; Month-over-month volume of townhouse/condominium sales reached the third highest level of 2009; Months inventory of single-family homes dipped from 6.7 to 6.5 months compared to the national average of 9.4 months. |
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The computerized Multiple Listing Service of the Houston Association of Realtors® includes residential properties and new homes listed by 24,000 Realtors® throughout Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties, as well as parts of Brazoria, Galveston, Waller and Wharton counties. Residential home sales statistics as well as listing information for more than 50,000 properties may be found on the Internet at https://www.har.com. |