Single-Family Homes Update-HAR Report
Single-family home sales fell 16.9 percent in August with 8,241 units sold across the Greater Houston area compared to 9,918 a year earlier. In August, the median price climbed 10.8 percent to $341,950 while the average price rose 8.7 percent to $411,671.
For a pre-pandemic perspective, August sales are down 5.0 percent compared to three years ago, in August 2019, when a total of 8,673 single-family homes sold. The median price then was 36.8 percent lower, at $249,975, and the average price, at $310,139, was 32.7 percent lower. However, sales are 35.3 percent above where they were five years ago, in August 2017, when volume totaled 6,090. Back then, the median price was $230,000 and the average price was $294,963 – reflecting pricing jumps of 48.6 percent and 39.6 percent, respectively. It is worth noting that the 2017 figures were affected by Hurricane Harvey.
Days on Market, or the actual time it took to sell a home, grew slightly, from 27 to 31 days. Inventory registered a 2.5-months supply compared to 1.7 months a year earlier. That is the greatest supply of homes on the market since August of 2020. The current national inventory stands at 3.3 months, as reported by NAR.
Broken out by housing segment, August sales performed as follows:
$1 - $99,999: decreased 28.1 percent
$100,000 - $149,999: decreased 24.4 percent
$150,000 - $249,999: decreased 43.6 percent
$250,000 - $499,999: decreased 10.6 percent
$500,000 - $999,999: increased 10.0 percent
$1M and above: decreased 13.5 percent
HAR also breaks out sales figures for existing single-family homes. Existing home sales totaled 6,739 in August, down 20.3 percent from the same month last year. The average sales price rose 8.8 percent to $408,030 while the median sales price increased 8.9 percent to $330,000. Those figures are significantly below the pricing records that were set earlier this year.