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Housing inventory, meaning the number of homes for sale at any given time, is lower than it has been in more than a decade, with just 3.5 months of inventory available.
Houston Association of Realtors Chairman Danny Frank says March 2013 sales were 17 percent higher than March of last year.
“Housing levels fell again slightly to 3.5 months of inventory. And townhomes and condominium sales shot up 47 percent, year over year.”
The low inventory is also raising prices. The median price for a single-family home rose 6.5 percent last month, that’s a record-high for Houston. And the average price of a home is $236,000.
Ralph Bivens is a real estate analyst who runs the website realtynewsreport.com. He says this competitive market can be tough for buyers, especially those buying for the first time.
“You have to look fast and you have to react fast. It is a challenge for buyers, some buyers are being very frustrated. They want to live in one of the popular areas near the energy corridor and the inner loop, all over, all over the place they’re really strong and there’s not much inventory. And buyers are getting beat out, if they don’t react now, somebody else will buy it.”
One of the drivers of the sizzling market is the nation’s low mortgage rates, which are at 50-year lows. March was the 22nd consecutive month of positive home sales in Houston.
