The month of August brought an increase in sales volumes throughout the metro area, according to new data from the Houston Association of Realtors.
Over the past year, Houston enjoyed a 13-month long run of improved sales which ended, suddenly, in July 2021 coming off the record-highs of June. But now, the July slump appears to have been an anomaly. August saw growth in not only sales but available inventory, which had been rocked by supply-chain issues stemming from ongoing pandemic.
To compare the details of single-family home sales in August 2021 with August 2020, check out the chart below.
via HAR
On average, single-family home prices climbed 14%, to $380,233, while the median price rose to $310,000: a 15.2% increase. Broken down into segments by price, homes that were $500,000 to $750,000 made up the bulk of Houston sales volume with a whopping 48.5% increase year –over year. That second-highest increase in the $250,000 to $500,000 segment with 31.8%. Homes priced at or above $750,000, the luxury segment, saw a 30.5% increase. However, the sales of houses priced below $250,000 decreased across the board.
Sales of all property types also rose 9.2% year –over year, reaching 12,036 sales in all. The total dollar volume for August 2021 was $4.3 billion: a 26.7% increase. Among those properties, 8,584 existing homes were sold last month, 14.7% more than last year. The average sales price on those homes rose too, 13.2%, to $375,354 while the median sales increased 16.9% to $304,000.
Notably, the days on market dropped nearly by half: from 51 to 26, year –over year. Meanwhile, inventory sits at a 1.9-months’ supply, compared to the 2.6-months’ supply that was available in August 2020. Still, that level is the highest seen in Houston in 2021 so far — though it’s well below the current national inventory of 2.6 months, as reported by NAR.
Commenting on the August findings, HAR Chairman Richard Miranda said the Houston market appears to be easing. That’s to be expected at the end of summer as inventory levels remain low. “We are also hearing anecdotally that there aren’t quite as many competitive bids on property listings as we observed earlier this year, which drove prices into record territory in June,” he said.