The Houston Association of REALTORS’ weekly activity snapshot showed a decline in market activity both year over year and from week to week.

Home values grew 19.6% last year, an all-time high in Zillow’s data, which goes back more than 20 years.

In 2021, home sale profits rose in more than 90% of the country’s housing markets and reached the highest level since 2008. 

Builders started to make headway against supply-chain issues that have hampered construction of homes in the face of high demand. 

Rising prices and rates are driving up mortgage payments which are pushing up demand for rentals.

New homes and existing homes are appreciating at similar rates, according to a new report from CoreLogic.

Rent growth also slowed in December, posting the lowest monthly increase since February 2020.

“December saw sales retreat, but the pull back was more a sign of supply constraints than an indication of a weakened demand for housing.” — NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun

Overall, there were fewer new listings, closings and showings during the week of Jan. 11-17 compared to the second week of January 2021, the report said.

While multifamily starts surged 13.7% compared to November, the pace of new single-family housing construction slid 2.3%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

December housing sales fell lower than they have since the start of the pandemic, a new Redfin report found.

“While lean existing home inventory and solid buyer demand are supporting the need for new construction, the combination of ongoing increases for building materials, worsening skilled labor shortages and higher mortgage rates point to declines for housing affordability in 2022.” — NAHB Chairman Chuck Fowke

“MBA expects solid growth in purchase activity this year, as demographic drivers and the strong economy support housing demand,. However, the strength in growth will be dependent on housing inventory growing more rapidly to meet demand.” — Mortgage Bankers Association associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting Joel Kan

The Houston area set annual records for single-family home sales, average sale price, and total sales dollar volume in 2021.

Despite the record low number of homes for sale, prices and pending sales continue to rise.

Housing prices continue to exacerbate ongoing affordability challenges, as home appreciation continued to accelerate in November.