The pandemic buying boom is officially over in Houston.
Following the record-breaking number of house sales during the pandemic, due to the incredibly low 5% mortgage rate, the Houston housing market has seen a drop in sales over the last few months as rates spike up to over 7%.
Despite the National Association of Realtors reporting that sales have dropped 17% in comparison to last year, acting HAR chair Cathy Trevino says that the drop is a result of the market exiting out of its "hyper" boom market state, and leveling out into similar sales that were seen back in Houston's pre-pandemic 2019.
"We’re definitely seeing a normalization in the market, very similar to what 2019 numbers were," Trevino said.
But the interest rate isn't the only price that has risen. According to Redfin, July 2023 also saw the average price of homes rising 1.3% to $335,000, which has resulted in houses lasting longer in the market, selling after an average of 21 days over last year’s 15 days.
Trevino said that while everyone is hoping that the prices will come down, it's unlikely that Houston will ever see rates like those in the pandemic again; we're officially in the cooldown zone for the time being.
"We’re hoping that the feds will drop the rates, we are hearing that that may happen towards the latter part of the year, but no one really knows."