Summer demand is starting in Houston’s suburbs

Last week, we used data from Redfin to identify Houston’s top selling suburbs, and Katy and Spring topped the list. In a follow-up, and with additional Redfin data, we examined inventory and the pace of sales to determine which suburbs are drumming up the most competition.

Month-over-month, only Friendswood maintained its median days on market, at seven, which marked the lowest median days on the market for any Houston suburb in June apart from Pearland, where listings were also selling in seven days. While only two suburbs (Friendswood, Seabrook) had single-digit median days on market in May, June saw demand push the pace of sales to single-digit days to four suburbs, which, apart from Friendswood and Pearland, included Deer Park (8 days) and Bellaire (9 days). In May, Deer Park’s median days on market was 12 days. The increase in demand is likely only a matter of seasonality, as sales tend to pick up in the summer months.

For the second month in a row, Deer Park’s inventory represented the lowest level among all of Houston’s suburbs at 1.3 months – a 0.3-month improvement from May. Though the suburb’s inventory falls far short of Houston’s 3.1-month supply, Deer Park reflects a continued shortage of available homes in the area that is fueling strong price appreciation. Both Lake Jackson (1.5-months supply) and Pearland (1.8-months supply) also had inventories less than a 2-months supply in June. In Willis, where sales are struggling to keep up with the suburb’s ample home supply, inventory in June was sufficient to satisfy the sales pace for another 9.4 months – well above “normal” levels of approximately 7 months.