Back in 2018, Freddie Mac stated that the country still needed about 2.5 million extra homes in order to meet demand. Then the pandemic homebuying boom depleted already-low inventory levels and high mortgage rates in the second half of 2022 chained many homeowners to their existing low rates.

Low inventory and high demand are buoying builder sentiment in the face of several headwinds. 

The drop in the pace of new-home construction follows a significant surge the month before, according to government statistics. 

For the first time in nearly a year, the average home sold above list price, fueling bidding wars in some markets.

Closings are also down by 18.6% year over year, with 1,717 homes sold during the week versus 2,110 a year ago.

As more owners continue to hang onto their houses, home values locally and across the nation have reached a new peak, but it comes at a cost.

According to HAR’s June 2023 Market Update, single-family home sales were down 12.8% year over year but up 3.9% from June 2019 (pre-pandemic).

The typical apartment is leased in 43 days in Houston — a year ago, apartments were leased within 38 days.

Despite the declining rate of increase, home prices have risen for the last 136 months, CoreLogic said. 

It takes the average Houstonian eight years to save up for a 10% down payment on a home, according to a recent Axios analysis.

New listings and pending listings have surpassed 2022 volumes for the first time in weeks, according to HAR.

For the first time in almost 12 months, the average U.S. home is selling above its asking price, as the average sale-to-list price ratio hit 100.1% earlier this month

With 13,885 properties entered into the Multiple Listing Service during June, new listings are down 8.9% year over year.

Texas had an average price per square foot of $189. 

These are the most expensive new listings added to Texas Multiple Listing Services in the past 31 days, as well as the listing agents behind the properties.

Transactions that do go through are typically seeing multiple offers, NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said.