YTD Review of the Houston Real Estate Market
April YTD 2008 – Single-family home sales
YTD Review of the Market for Houston and surrounding areas:
Houston Overall Statistics April YTD 2008
§ Single-family home sales are down by 12% in sold units over April YTD 2007 sales with 18,698 MLS recorded sold units. In 2007, single family home sales were up by 2% from 2006 with 20,953 MLS recorded sold units. While the Houston real estate market is not as robust as last year, we are still 4% better off in number of closed homes than the third greatest year in history, 2005. In 2005, 18,008 homes were sold.
§ Dollar volume sold in MLS through April YTD 2008 is $3,789,558,061, representing a 10% decline over 2007 but 17% of total volume sold in the year 2005.
§ Average sales price YTD is $202,672 or 2% greater than last year. While this is a small increase, it substantiates the opposite experience heard frequently in the national news. Houston is not a market where average sales prices are falling. In contrast, they are rising as they have historically, at a slow and steady pace. The average sales price in 2005 was $180,029, or 12.5% less than current. Markets across the nation would be more than happy to experience this same type of appreciation.
§ Active listings are up by 8% with 35,299 single-family properties currently available. Last year the increase was 12%, so listings are being absorbed and fewer homes are coming on the market in comparison to last year.
§ Contracts written, which represent April YTD buyer demand in Houston are keeping down by 10% over last year with 15,282 homes reported as pending year to date.
§ Average sales price per square foot is $87, which represents no change from last year.
§ Days on the Market, a statistic that is good if it is declining has gone up by 11% since last year and the average time to sell a home in Houston is 89 days.
§ By most of the metrics described above, Houston is replicating the year 2005 and is ahead of that year in sales and total dollar volume sales. Unfortunately, the Houston real estate market is ahead in number of homes on the market in comparison to April YTD 2005 with 18.5% more single-family inventory than found during that year. We believe this excess inventory will be absorbed over the next coming months and that 2008 will emerge as the third best year in residential history ahead of 2005.