In good news for the local housing market, the Houston Association of Realtors reports that home sales saw an upswing in October.
Single-family home sales are up 4.7 percent in October compared to last year, rising from 6,417 homes sold in October 2017 to 6,716 homes sold in October 2018. On a year-to-date basis, home sales are up 5.3 percent from 2017’s record-breaking year.
Although inventory grew slightly from 3.7 months to 3.9 months, and total active listings were up 7.3 percent, sales prices are still rising: The median sales price grew 3.6 percent to $234,653, and the average sale price grew 3.5 percent to $294,500.
Homes within every price point $150,000 or higher increased in sales in October, with luxury homes priced $750,000 and higher up 12 percent, and homes priced between $250,000 and $499,999 up 11.6 percent.
“With August and September home sales figures skewed by the effects of Hurricane Harvey, October seemed to mark a return to normalcy in terms of overall market activity,” said HAR Chair Kenya Burrell-VanWormer. “However, we are prepared for slower sales as we wrap up 2018, between the tight supply of homes and the fact that we typically see less activity around the holidays.”
