HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – January 2020 was the strongest January for home sales in Houston real estate history.
According to the Houston Association of Realtors, 4,699 single-family homes sold in January, a 14.3 increase over the 4,112 houses sold in January of 2019.
Exceptionally low mortgage rates and strong economic signals lifted the Houston housing market.
The January sales surge continues strong market conditions from last year. Houston home sales hit a annual record high in 2019 with 86,205 single-family home sales, up 5 percent from the annual total in 2018.
“January is a traditionally slower month for home sales coming off the holidays ….” said HAR Chairman John Nugent with RE/MAX Space Center.
Houston typically has about 4,000 single-family home sales in January. In the peak of the summer home-selling season, monthly sales surpass 8,000 homes a month — twice as many sales as a January.
The median price of a Houston home sold in January was $234,000, up 5 percent from the median of $224,000 in January of last year.
The upper-end of the local housing market has had some soft spots in recent months. However, the HAR January report said sales of homes priced over $750,000 increased 20 percent in January 2020.
The Houston housing market appears to be heading for a strong spring. Pending home sales are up 21 percent, HAR reported.
Even though the energy industry is going through a rough patch, the local economy is on a positive pathway, says economist Ray Perryman of the Perryman Group, a Waco-based organization.
Speaking to a commercial real estate audience, Perryman told the JLL Houston Industrial Summit 2020 Wednesday that Houston will gain about 60,000 new jobs in 2020 and the population growth will be significant over the next few years.
“I think the Houston economy is in pretty good shape,” Perryman said.
Feb. 13, 2020 Realty News Report Copyright 2020
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