The Houston real estate market showed signs of a cooled-down winter season last month.
The Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) released its latest Market Update for November 2022 and with so much to uncover in this report, let’s jump right in.
According to their November 2022 Market Update, The Houston real estate market entered its eighth month of declined activity. It is known that the real estate market typically slows down during the winter months. However, when factoring in the economic disruption spurred by inflation, elevated interest rates, low inventory, and now holiday spending it’s no surprise November experienced a decline in market activity. In fact, Houston witnessed its steepest monthly decline in single-family home sales last month with a whopping 30.4 percent fall and 5,827 units sold versus 8,374 this time the year before.
Here are how home sales performed in November according to their housing segment.
- $1 – $99,999: decreased by 13.9 percent
- $100,000 – $149,999: decreased 29.6 percent
- $150,000 – $249,999: decreased 44.6 percent
- $250,000 – $499,999: decreased 27.4 percent
- $500,000 – $999,999: decreased 19.0 percent
- $1M and above: decreased by 23.7 percent
Categories that experienced declined activity in the report included the total property sales, total dollar volume, single-family pending sales, and single-family home sales at 30.2 percent, 28.2 percent, 28.3 percent, and 30.4 percent drops respectively.
On the other hand, the months of inventory for single-family homes rose 1.4 months from 1.5 last year to 2.9 months in November. This rise in inventory was seen nationwide as the current U.S. housing inventory sits at about 3.3 months of supply, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). For perspective, 6 months of housing supply is considered to have a balanced market – meaning neither buyers nor sellers have an advantage over the other.
Additionally, the number of days on the market rose from 35 to 48 days as homebuyers become more deliberate with their home-purchasing decisions. The average price of a single-family home rose 5.8 percent to $403,589 year-over-year but was still lower than the record high in May 2022.
To read HAR’s full Market Update report click here.