The median age of inventory in Houston is 57 days, down from 83 before the pandemic began.

Looking ahead, CoreLogic expects national year-over-year appreciation to slow to 3.9% by September 2023. 

September is the fourth month in a row to see declining sales activity. 

A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 7.08% this week from 6.94% a week ago, Freddie Mac reported. A year ago, the average mortgage carried a 3.14% rate. 

Houston Realtors entered 2,555 properties into the MLS for the week ending Oct. 24. That’s a 5% decrease from last year, when 2,689 new properties were listed.

Mortgage rates continued to weigh on homebuyers in September, following a brief uptick in new-home sales in August.  

At the same time, mortgage applications declined 1.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis on a week-over-week basis, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. 

A new report from RentCafe shows that 101 zip codes in the U.S. have switched from majority homeowners to majority renters in the past decade, with 17 of them in Texas.

Texas is the third-most popular destination for international buyers looking to purchase a home in the United States.

Despite the slowdown, however, U.S. housing prices remain significantly higher than they were a year ago. 

The Rent. report found that the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment has risen 6% to $1,646, while the average rent for a three-bedroom has risen 9% to $1,797. Single-bedroom apartments saw more modest increases in rent, with one-bedroom rents increasing 3% to $1,277.

With 4,746 units built in the first six months of 2022, Houston leads the country in new apartment construction, according to a new report from RentCafe.

Houston home values have also rose well above affordability norms.

“After a sustained period of quick sales that kept the housing cupboard relatively bare, a supply of two months presents a lot more options for homebuyers,” said RE/MAX President and CEO Nick Bailey.

The only other time the market saw such change was at the beginning of the pandemic. 

The Houston Association of REALTORS® Weekly Activity Snapshot shows that new listings are down 1.2% year over year. Only 2,649 properties were entered into the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in the past week.