Houston Housing Market - March 2016
https://www.har.com/content/mls/
DISCLOSURE: All data was provided by the HAR Press Release for March 2016.
The HAR press release has just come out, and given the current economic environment in Houston, it's a very comforting report. The link to the source of information for this posting is found above. Noted in the report as they normally do is the comparison of the current month to the same month of last year. When this comparison is made of course its going to be a decline in most categories as this time last year was very different in the Housing market and in the oil patch. Now with the swing to low the 40's for a barrel of oil the Housing market in Houston is providing a very respectable landscape for investors to continue to make returns. One major contributor to this is the stat made in the report "In its April 2016 report on the Houston economy, the Greater Houston Partnership (GHP) cited U.S. Census Bureau data showing the Houston metropolitan area leading the nation in population growth in 2015, with the addition of over 159,000 new residents. GHP stated that since April 2010, Houston has added over 736,000 residents and that energy industry layoffs have been offset by job creation in other sectors."
As an investor the stats I am intrigued by in the HAR Press Release for the month of March, is the median home price has increased 2.4% to $215,000 from March of last year. This is the highest EVER for the month of March. Now this gets even better when you compare this to February's. The median house price was at $200,000 and thats a 7.5% jump in price. Also comparing February to March of this year the average sales price has jumped from $260,000 to $272,000! This is providing a good outlook for investors looking to sell some properties soon.
Another great highlight for investors mention in the HAR Press Release is the year to date home sales are ahead of last years by 1.0%. Also some great news in for land lords. Leases on single family homes have increased by 9.0%.
Of course there has been some declines in some categories. The key points I have highlighted show that this is very much still a healthy investment market and doesn't look like its going to slow down anytime soon. Some of the declines are just bringing those stats back down to earth and not at all out record setting numbers.