Single-Family Homes Update(HAR Report:
Single-family home sales shot up 22.9 percent in February with 7,372 units sold throughout the greater Houston area compared to 5,997 a year earlier. Part of that sizeable gain is attributed to an interruption in real estate business last February resulting from the deadly Texas freeze. HAR compared sales volume to the last “normal” February, in 2020, and that reflects an increase of 23.3 percent.
Strong sales volume among higher-end homes pushed up pricing to historic highs. The median price climbed 19.3 percent to $328,000 while the average price rose 13.4 percent to $395,871. These surpassed the last record average price of $393,295 set in June of 2021 and the last record median price of $317,990 set in December of 2021.
Days on Market, or the actual time it took to sell a home, fell from 48 to 41 days. Inventory registered a 1.3-months supply compared to 1.5 months a year earlier. That matches Houston’s lowest inventory level of all time – first reached last spring. The current national inventory figure stands at 1.6 months, as reported by NAR.
Broken out by housing segment, February sales performed as follows:
$1 - $99,999: decreased 24.0 percent
$100,000 - $149,999: decreased 53.5 percent
$150,000 - $249,999: decreased 44.1 percent
$250,000 - $499,999: increased 80.1 percent
$500,000 - $999,999: increased 72.3 percent
$1M and above: increased 33.5 percent
HAR also breaks out sales figures for existing single-family homes. Existing home sales totaled 5,765 in February. That was up 23.4 percent from the same month last year. Because that figure was likely skewed by the freeze effect last year, a comparison to February 2020 shows an increase of 24.0 percent. The average sales price rose 12.1 percent to $391,180 while the median sales price climbed 18.1 percent to $319,000. The average price is the second highest of all time while the median establishes a new record high.