Single-Family Homes Update-HAR Report
Single-family home sales fell 17.0 percent in August with 7,664 units sold across the Greater Houston area compared to 9,235 a year earlier. In September, the median price climbed 14.7 percent to $343,950 while the average price rose 11.6 percent to $414,776.
For a pre-pandemic perspective, September sales are up 8.7 percent compared to three years ago, in September 2019, when a total of 7,050 single-family homes sold. The median price then was 40.6 percent lower, at $244,679, and the average price, at $299,600, was 38.4 percent lower. Sales are 10.2 percent above where they were five years ago, in September 2017, when volume totaled 6,953. Back then, the median price was $232,000 and the average price was $290,683 – reflecting pricing jumps of 48.3 percent and 42.7 percent, respectively.
Days on Market, or the actual time it took to sell a home, grew from 29 to 37 days. Inventory registered a 2.7-months supply compared to 1.7 months a year earlier. That is the greatest supply of homes on the market since July 2020. The current national inventory stands at 3.2 months, as reported by NAR.
Broken out by housing segment, September sales performed as follows:
$1 - $99,999: decreased 31.7 percent
$100,000 - $149,999: decreased 25.5 percent
$150,000 - $249,999: decreased 44.7 percent
$250,000 - $499,999: decreased 11.3 percent
$500,000 - $999,999: increased 12.6 percent
$1M and above: increased 7.2 percent
HAR also breaks out sales figures for existing single-family homes. Existing home sales totaled 6,058 in September, down 22.8 percent from the same month last year. The average sales price rose 11.4 percent to $409,384 while the median sales price increased 11.9 percent to $330,000. Those figures are significantly below the pricing records that were set earlier this year.