March 26, 2012 (Shirley Allen)
Monthly property sales in Houston picked back up in February leaving inventories at their lowest level in over three years according to the latest data from the Houston Association of Realtors® (HAR).
February sales of all property types totaled an estimated 4,561 in Houston. That was 25.6 percent higher than the 3,632 properties sold in January and 15.8 percent higher than the 3,938 properties sold in February 2011.
Existing single-family homes accounted for 3,832 of the total sales in February. That was 25.7 percent higher than the 3,049 homes sold in January and 16.9 percent higher than the 3,277 homes sold in February 2011.
The median sales price for an existing single-family home in Houston increased 7.1 percent to $149,900 from $139,900 in January and was 0.7 percent lower than the median price of $150,990 in February of 2011.
There was a 5.6 months supply of single-family homes available for sale in Houston, down from a 5.7 months supply in January and down from a 7.3 months supply in February of last year.
Wayne A. Stroman, chairman of HAR, stated, “The Houston housing market continues to show welcomed strength at the end of February 2012. In addition to all the positive indicators in HAR’s February report, Houston is reaping the benefits of great economic news in the form of more than 76,000 jobs created over the past year, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. It stands to reason that with new jobs being filled, these employees and their families will need housing.”
Condominium sales accounted for 319 of the total sales in February, up 17.7 percent from 271 sales in January and 2.9 percent higher than the 310 units sold in February of 2011.
The median sales price for a condo in February was $122,000, which was 27.0 percent higher than the $96,050 median sales price in January and 2.1 percent higher than in February of last year.
The number of properties available for sale in the Houston area increased slightly from 42,067 in January to 42,206 in February but were still at their lowest level since December of 2008. A year ago there were 49,836 properties available for sale, 15.3 percent lower than last month.
Tags: existing homes, condos, sales, median home prices, Houston
