HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – The new year began with robust home sales, as Houston Realtors experienced the strongest January ever.
The Houston Association of Realtors reported 4,469 single-family home sales in January, up 8.9 percent from the 4,104 sales in January of last year.
Housing inventory was unchanged from the 3.3-months supply a year earlier. Housing inventory across the U.S. currently stands at a 3.2-months supply, according to the latest report from the National Association of Realtors.
The inventory of homes for sale is low, by historical standards, and that represents a seller’s market. A 6 months supply is a balanced market.
The single-family home median price (the figure at which half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less) rose 3.8 percent to $218,000 – the highest median ever for a January. The average price declined 2.1 percent to $270,303.
“The Houston housing market seems to have carried the positive momentum from 2017 into the new year, even with some softening in the high end,” said HAR Chair Kenya Burrell-VanWormer with JP Morgan Chase.
The HAR sales report indicated a decrease in upper-end sales.
