Things are looking pretty good in the city of Houston, as home values are on the rise, foreclosures are down and inventory is staying low. Yes, it seems “Space City” is recovering well from the housing crash that rocked the nation five years ago, and if things continue on this path, we might even see another boom in Texas real estate.
According to a recent article from Culture Map Houston, the pace of home sales is brisk, leaving inventories low and providing home sellers with plenty of generous offers. According to the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR), the inventory of homes for sale is at its lowest point since 1999. This is quite a feat, since January is typically a slow month for real estate sales.
Property sales in Houston came to 4,680 for the month of January, representing a 29 percent increase from January 2012, the HAR reported. But not only are homes selling faster, they’re selling for more. The average sales price in Houston was $200,296 in January, the highest price ever recorded in Houston for that month.
As for foreclosures, RealtyTrac reports that Harris County has improved overall when it comes to distressed inventory. At the time of this writing, there were 8,958 foreclosures in Harris County, 26.4 percent of which were auctions and 34.9 percent of which were bank owned. The level of auction properties decreased 47.6 percent from the previous year and the level of bank owned properties fell 57.8 percent from the previous year.
Another factor that has helped contribute to Houston’s thriving market is the expansion in local business. Houston has added quite a few new jobs in the energy industry, bringing in people from other parts of the country as well. With a growing population and low unemployment (Houston had a rate of 6.1% in December 2012), it’s no wonder the real estate biz is picking up!
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