Single-Family Homes Update-HAR Report
Single-family home sales fell 22.8 percent in October with 6,641 units sold across the Greater Houston area compared to 8,597 a year earlier. In October, the median price increased 8.4 percent to $330,500 while the average price rose 7.2 percent to $403,712.
For a pre-pandemic perspective, October sales are down 7.6 percent compared to October 2019, when a total of 7,187 single-family homes sold. The median price then was 37.7 percent lower, at $240,000, and the average price, at $298,158, was 35.4 percent lower. Sales are 3.5 percent above where they were five years ago, in October 2017, when volume totaled 6,417. Back then, the median price was $226,500 and the average price was $284,659 – reflecting pricing jumps of 45.9 percent and 41.8 percent, respectively
Days on Market, or the actual time it took to sell a home, grew from 32 to 43 days. Inventory registered a 2.8-months supply compared to 1.8 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, October sales performed as follows:
$1 - $99,999: decreased 42.3 percent
$100,000 - $149,999: decreased 34.8 percent
$150,000 - $249,999: decreased 41.6 percent
$250,000 - $499,999: decreased 18.7 percent
$500,000 - $999,999: decreased 6.6 percent
$1M and above: decreased 28.0 percent
HAR also breaks out sales figures for existing single-family homes. Existing home sales totaled 5,021 in October, down 30.4 percent from the same month last year. The average sales price rose 5.9 percent to $395,627 while the median sales price increased 5.4 percent to $315,000. Those figures continue to be significantly below the pricing records that were set earlier this year.