COMPASS agent Laura Sweeney tops the list of the most expensive Houston home sales yet again, this time representing both the buyer and the seller on a $14.5 million transaction in River Oaks.

A 15% rise in applications for adjustable-rate mortgages drove overall mortgage applications higher in the most recent weekly survey. 

Housing affordability has worsened in many parts of the country as wages fail to grow at the same pace as home prices — but Harris County is one area where wage increases are outpacing price increases.

Here are the priciest new listings for sale in The Lone Star State, all posted to the Multiple Listing Service within the past 30 days.

Point2Homes analyzed listings in every U.S. state and Washington, D.C. to determine the most expensive home for sale in each.

Regionally, pending sales were down across the board on both a monthly and an annual basis, the National Association of REALTORS® said. 

Total housing inventory at the end of August was 1.11 million units, up 3.7% from July but down 14.6% on a year-over-year basis, the National Association of REALTORS® said. 

The most expensive Houston home sales last month ranged from a $12.5 million mansion in River Oaks to a $3.4 million property known as “The House of Many Palms.”

CoreLogic expects prices to continue to grow through next year, albeit at a more traditional pace than in the height of the pandemic. 

Luxury homes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area make up a majority of the priciest new listings from the past month.

Pending transactions were in negative territory for most of this year, so the recent increases could bode well for future activity. 

A fifth consecutive month of increases in the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index suggests the housing market recovery that began earlier this year is likely to continue. 

Two weeks after housing inventory turned negative, home prices posted a healthy increase, MarketNsight said. 

Over 90,000 apartments could join the Houston housing market, according to the Q2 2023 Construction Pipeline report from Berkadia.

High mortgage rates and limited inventory continued to weigh on sales activity, National Association of REALTORS®Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said. 

Single-family home permits and completions, meanwhile, also rose, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.