Houston’s Home Sales Slide, Market briefs

In Houston, Houston’s single-family home sales fell 3.8 percent with 7,983 homes sold in August, compared to 8,301 sales in August 2022, as stated by the Houston Association of Realtors.

Rising mortgage rates have eroded home sales activity for over a year. Affordability is a looming hurdle to buyers as higher home prices and mortgage rates make it difficult for would-be homebuyers, particularly first-time buyers.

In November of 2020, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 2.78 percent, as stated by Freddie Mac.

Today, a typical mortgage is near 7 percent.

The average 30-year mortgage rate hit 7.18 percent this week, up from 6.02 percent a year ago, Freddie Mac reported.

“Mortgage rates inched back up this week and remain anchored north of seven percent,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist. “The reacceleration of inflation and strength in the economy is keeping mortgage rates elevated.

In Houston, the months supply of homes climbed to 3.3, the highest level since May 2020 when it also was 3.3.

During the pandemic, the inventory of homes for sale was extremely tight, causing prices to escalate sharply.

In August, Houston’s single-family home prices continue to stabilize. The average price edged up just 2.5 percent to $420,124 while the median price was statistically flat at $339,000. Those figures are well below the record highs of $438,350 (average) in May 2022 and $354,000 (median) in June 2022.

“While some of the August numbers for the Houston housing market were in negative territory, they are part of a gradual return to normalcy from pandemic-era trends that were unsustainable,” said HAR Chair Cathy Treviño with LPT Realty. “We are working our way back to a better place with resale housing while continuing to see strong activity in the rental market.”