Houston Real Estate Is Still Strong

HOUSTON (Houston Association of Realtors) – July real estate sales in the greater Houston region dipped slightly from June’s $1.9 billion but continued their streak of new monthly records. Total property sales for the month totaled 7,975, a 3.3 percent increase over July 2005. Properties sold reached a total of nearly $1.6 billion, a 10.3 percent increase compared to last year’s more than $1.4 billion in July sales.

The median home price for a single-family home reached a monthly record for July of $155,890 and for the third month in a row the average single-family home price topped the $200,000 mark at $206,045; increases from last year of 7.5 and 7 percent, respectively.

All listing categories combined, Houston’s overall housing market in July increased in most categories, including total property sales, average sales price, median sales price, and overall total dollar volume on a year-over-year basis.

The number of active listings at the end of July was 45,613, an increase of 0.6 percent versus last July and the first month with a year-over-year increase after ten consecutive declines. Active listings increased by 1,171 properties from last month though, which is an increase of more than 2,000 homes in the last two months and shows new listings may be outpacing sales activity.

The $155,890 overall median price of single-family homes, which was an all-time record after last month’s initial median sales price was revised downward, represents an increase of 7.5 percent compared to the prior year. The average sales price for single-family homes was $206,045 during July, up 7 percent versus the same period last year.

Current median price, while an all-time record for the Houston market, is 32.7 percent less than the national median price, which reached $231,500 in June, according to statistics released by the National Association of Realtors.