Houston for rent/buy reports for month of August 2017

HOUSTON — (November 8, 2017) — The Houston real estate market showed continued resiliency in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, with home sales and rentals in positive territory for a second consecutive month in October. However, the strong demand combined with flood-damaged homes previously pulled off the market, constrained housing inventory which had finally reached more balanced levels before the storm struck in late August.

According to the latest monthly report prepared by the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR), single-family home sales rose 7.5 percent, marking a further recovery since Harvey’s assault. All segments of the housing market experienced gains except for homes priced below $150,000. The greatest sales volume was observed among homes priced at $750,000 and above. On a year-to-date basis, home sales remain 2.8 percent ahead of 2016’s volume even as some flood-ravaged neighborhoods continue to rebuild.

Housing inventory edged up from a 3.8-months supply in October 2016 to 3.9 months this October. However, that is down from the 4.3-months peak reached in the weeks immediately preceding Harvey.

The single-family home median price (the figure at which half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less) increased 3.9 percent to $226,491. The average price rose 2.7 percent to $285,858. Both figures represent records highs for an October.

"The overall Houston real estate market wasted little time recovering from Hurricane Harvey's devastation, but we’d like to see supply grow to meet ongoing consumer demand for housing," said HAR Chair Cindy Hamann with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Anderson Properties. "Hopefully, more balanced inventory levels can be restored by early in the new year."

October sales of all property types in Houston totaled 7,614, an increase of 6.6 percent versus the same month last year. Total dollar volume climbed 10.8 percent to $2.1 billion.

Apartment, Housing for rent-sale Month of August Report

HOUSTON PROPERTY SALES DECLINE FOR A SECOND CONSECUTIVE MONTH FOLLOWING EXPIRATION OF THE HOMEBUYER TAX CREDIT

The average price of a single-family home continues to appreciate, reaching its second highest level for an August in Houston

HOUSTON — (September 21, 2010) — A post-homebuyer tax credit calm prevailed across the greater Houston area for the second straight month in August, with property sales volume down, though not as dramatically as it was in July. Despite the decline, the average price of a single-family home continued to climb.

According to the latest monthly data compiled by the Houston Association of Realtors® (HAR), August sales of single-family homes throughout the Houston market fell 16.7 percent compared to August 2009. Declines were recorded in all pricing segments.

The average price of a single-family home rose 2.2 percent from August 2009 to $216,522. The August single-family home median price—the figure at which half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less—dipped 0.6 percent from one year earlier to $159,000.

Foreclosure property sales reported in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) dipped 2.4 percent in August compared to one year earlier. The median price of August foreclosure sales slid 1.1 percent to $85,000 on a year-over-year basis.

Sales of all property types in Houston for August totaled 4,977, down 15.3 percent compared to August 2009. Total dollar volume for properties sold during the month was $1.0 billion versus $1.2 billion one year earlier, representing a 13.9 percent drop.

“Our traditionally busy summer home sales months were much quieter because of the early spring home buying push that resulted from the tax credit, but Houston is still healthier than most other real estate markets around the country,” said Margie Dorrance, HAR chair and principal at Keller Williams Realty Metropolitan. “It’s hard to predict how our market will perform this fall, however consumers that have cash for a down payment and excellent credit who are considering purchasing a home can take advantage of record low interest rates and a selection of housing that suits every need and taste.”

August Monthly Market Comparison

The month of August brought Houston’s overall housing market largely negative results when all listing categories are compared to August of 2009. Total property sales and total dollar volume fell on a year-over-year basis while the average single-family home sales price rose and the median price dipped.

The number of available properties, or active listings, at the end of August rose 19.7 percent from August 2009 to 55,079. That represents 168 fewer active listings than one month earlier, in July 2010 and suggests that inventory levels are moving into balance.

Month-end pending sales for August totaled 3,281, down 15.9 percent from last year, suggesting the likelihood that sales will be down again in September. The months inventory of single-family homes for August extended to 7.8 months compared to 6.4 months one year earlier, but remains healthier than the national months inventory of single-family homes of 12.5 months, reported by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR).

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Deadly mass shooting at Texas church

Yahoo News Photo Staff

Deadly mass shooting at Sutherland Springs, Texas, church

Carrie Matula hugs a woman who lost her father in a mass shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017. Matula said she saw and heard everything as it happened from the gas station where she works just a block away. (Nick Wagner / American-Statesman via AP)

At least 26 people were killed and 30 injured in a Texas church shooting Sunday morning, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

The alleged shooter is dead, and it appears there is no longer an active threat at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, about 40 miles southeast of San Antonio, police told ABC News.

A person who said she works at a gas station across the street from the church told ABC News she heard rapid gunfire at around 11:15 a.m., leading congregants from the church as well as customers at the station to run inside for cover.

“We heard several shots and we all started running inside the store,” she said.

“It lasted about 15 seconds. I yelled, ‘Get down! Get inside!’ and we all went into hiding,” said the woman, who said she is 49 but declined to give her name.

She said the gas station locked its doors. “We have not reopened,” she said.

She then that within minutes of the gunfire, emergency personnel had arrived at the scene.

“There were officers that were checking the wounded in here were asking them questions,” she said.

The FBI and ATF were headedto the scene, and at least six people from the church were taken to Connally Memorial Center in nearby Floresville for treatment.

By Sunday afternoon, police had formed a perimeter around the white clapboard church and flooded its grounds with emergency and police vehicles, according to KSAT.

A small group of people were seen clustered together outside the church, an unassuming building with a red door. They were holding hands as tears overtook an attempt to pray, a KSAT reporter said.

houston Astros won.

LOS ANGELES -- The Houston Astros are all alone in the baseball stratosphere, coming through just when their city needed them most.

Just a little over two months ago, the Astros were displaced, disconsolate and helpless, grieving that they could not do more for a city ravaged by Hurricane Harvey and its aftermath. All the Astros could do then was play baseball, to give their fans common cause and a little distraction.

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All they can do now is revel in the first World Series title in the history of both the city and the state. It seems like so much.

“Our team believed in each other all year,” World Series MVP George Springer said. “And through the good times and the bad times, through a rough stretch in August, to getting down 3-2 against a very good New York team (in the ALCS), there's a lot of things that happened. I'm so happy to be a part of it to bring a championship back to a city that desperately needed one. It is a surreal feeling.”

In one of the most dramatic World Series ever, the Astros sucked the air out of Dodger Stadium from the outset. They jumped on Los Angeles Dodgers starter Yu Darvish for five early runs and then cruised to a 5-1 clincher on Wednesday, the first World Series Game 7 at Dodger Stadium.

As he has done so many times during his spectacular young career, Springer sparked it all, leading off the game with a double and scoring on Cody Bellinger's throwing error. Then he broke the game open in the second inning with a comet-like homer to left-center that gave Houston its initial five-run lead. No team had ever overcome a deficit that large in a winner-take-all World Series game. Lance McCullers Jr. and the bullpen -- led by a heroic four-inning effort from Charlie Morton to finish the game -- made sure that stat remained in effect.

house for rent in houston market

Wait and see

A lack of confidence in the economy and job market is keeping some would-be buyers on the fence.

Adam Kassoff recently moved to Houston from southern California for a job in law firm management. He's used to owning, but he ended up renting a two-bedroom apartment in a Museum District high-rise.

While his main motivation to rent was that he's still learning about the city and different neighborhoods, he's not convinced now is the right time to buy even if he were ready. "It's still an uncertain market," he said.

As rental demand expands, more real estate firms are growing their leasing business. Rentals are up 30 percent at Bernstein Realty, a Houston-based real estate brokerage that operates a property management division.

High-end realty firm John Daugherty Realtors just started a leasing division to handle demand, which has been growing since the housing market collapsed nationally.

"Anyone coming from California or Nevada, they couldn't buy because they couldn't sell their homes," said Cheri Fama, executive vice president and chief operating officer of John Daugherty Realtors. "That's how it started."

Caution helps rentals

Apartment-building rentals are also gaining momentum.

As of September, occupancy among Houston-area apartment complexes was 86.4 percent, up from 84.8 percent a year earlier, according to Apartment Data Services. The average rent was $722, up $2 from 2009.

Bruce McClenny, president of the data firm, said more renters are staying in apartments in part because it's gotten harder to qualify for mortgages. "I think everybody is being very cautious and probably rightly so," he said. "That's helping the rental market."

Houston house for sale market

Houston home sales plunged for the first time in nearly a year in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, according to the Houston Association of Realtors.

Local Realtors sold 5,917 single-family homes in August, a 25.4 percent drop in sales year over year, according to HAR’s most recent monthly housing report. The sales decline affected homes of all price points.

Harvey impacted Houston’s townhome and condominium markets as well. Houston-area Realtors sold 443 townhomes and condos in August, a 31.4 percent decline year over year, according to HAR.

“Hurricane Harvey dealt a severe blow to the Houston area and Texas Gulf coast and it will probably be several weeks until we can gauge the storm’s full impact on our housing market,” Cindy Hamann, HAR’s chairwoman, said in a statement. “Home sales were humming throughout the first three weeks of August, but the moment Harvey struck the region, everything came to a screeching halt.”

August’s sharp drop in home sales was likely due to Harvey’s timing toward the end of the month. Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas Gulf Coast on Aug. 25. The last week of the month is typically when most home closings are scheduled. Many deals were canceled or postponed as prospective buyers walked from flooded homes or took an extension to re-inspect homes for hurricane damage.

Despite the drop in August closings, home sales remain 1.8 percent ahead of the 2016 volume, according to HAR.

Houston housing market

HOUSTON/AUSTIN (Reuters) - It might seem like Houston’s historic flood would make America’s fourth-largest city a less desirable place to live, but it’s going to get more expensive, real estate experts say.

The supply of houses and apartments is expected to drop sharply with tens of thousands of homes destroyed and uncertain prospects for future flood insurance costs.

Following a pattern seen in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, that’s likely to drive up home prices and rents in high-and-dry neighborhoods. Displaced buyers and renters will compete for a limited number of properties, said Nela Richardson, chief economist for the real estate brokerage and data firm Redfin.

Before the flooding from Hurricane Harvey, Houston had been a rare, fast-growing U.S. metropolitan area that had retained an affordable housing market, although prices had risen in recent years and held steady through an oil-price crash starting in 2014 in this center of the U.S. energy industry.

“Houston stood out nationwide as a market where housing was remarkably affordable across the income spectrum” compared to other dynamic job markets such as New York or San Francisco, said Aaron Terrazas, a senior economist at Zillow, which recently did a comprehensive study of the Houston housing market.

Houston housing market after Harvey

According to data compiled by Apartment Data Services and provided to theHouston Press by the Houston Apartment Association, 89.1 percent of Houston’s approximately 639,000 apartment units were occupied just before Harvey hit, leaving about 70,000 vacant and most of those — 26,000 — in luxury apartments. Andy Teas, vice president of public affairs for the Apartment Association, said that Harvey’s damage is still being assessed and so numbers are far from certain, but that estimates have ranged between 40,000 and 100,000 units being flooded — including an untold number of vacant units.

Even if the damage is minor, Teas said there’s no telling how long repairs will take given the sheer magnitude of demand for the limited labor, meaning many people may need assistance for longer. And of course it’s not just apartment dwellers who will be seeking temporary apartments and repairs; it’s homeowners — in every part of the county.

Both Teas and Gunsolley said this is bound to put immense pressure on the rental market and worsen Houston’s already-acute affordable housing crisis, especially given that most vacancies are in the upscale Class A housing market. Even in the Class C markets, Gunsolley said, landlords who invest heavily in repairs are going to want to charge more for rent to make up for the losses.

“Somebody who needs a one-bedroom apartment for $600 a month, they already had a hard time finding an apartment like that before the flood,” Gunsolley said. “After the flood, it could be impossible to find a unit like that. I don’t know if I’m being overly dramatic, because nobody has a full assessment yet of what we’re talking about. That’s apart of FEMA’s job, collecting all of that information.”

Home sale fell 1.7 percent in August, Houston

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home sales fell 1.7 percent in August, pulled down by the effects of Hurricane Harvey and a worsening shortage of available properties.

The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that sales of existing homes sank last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.35 million. Would-be homebuyers are being limited by a decline in the number of sales listings. The shortage has become a drag on sales and has caused prices to surge — factors that limit the strong job market's benefit to the housing industry.

"Given that job growth has been steady and demand is still strong, there remains fundamental support for the housing market," said Jennifer Lee, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.

The median sales price has increased 5.6 percent from a year ago to $253,500.

Sales listings have tumbled 6.5 percent over the past 12 months to 1.88 million. The supply of homes for sale should continue to decline through February because the winter and fall are generally slower for home sales.

The decline in housing supply is having "ripple effects throughout the economy," said Robert Frick, an economist with Navy Federal Credit Union.

Higher housing costs mean that "many people who want a new, higher-paying job are finding that moving to a new city is too expensive," Frick said.

Because of declining supply, sales of homes that cost under $250,000 have fallen over the past year. But in a sign of the widening wealth gap, sales of homes that cost more than $500,000 have shot up by double digits.

Homes are also selling quickly because of the lack of options for buyers. The average number of days on the market was 30 in August, down from 36 a year ago.

August sales surged in the Northeast and increased modestly in the Midwest. But sales dropped sharply in the South and West.

Borrowing costs for would-be homebuyers have lessened in recent weeks, helping to preserve a degree of affordability despite the price increases.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate last week was 3.78 percent. This marked a steep decline from this year's peak of 4.3 percent, which was reached in March.

Rates have slipped in recent months amid signs that inflation has weakened and President Donald Trump's plans for stimulating faster economic growth have hit roadblocks.