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Greater Houston's housing inventory dipped to 2.8 months in October in the wake of unseasonably strong demand, according to the Houston Association of Realtors. Inventory is a rough measure of how long it would take to sell out the entire listed supply of housing. October marked the second monthly decline in a row for the region's housing supply. By comparison, the national inventory registered 5.3 months.
The region's job growth is still propelling the demand for homes far ahead of new construction.
"A lot of the new growth in new subdivisions takes two to three years for those lots to come on board," says Shad Bogany, immediate past chair of the Texas Association of Realtors, "and we haven't seen that growth at all yet. All the pressure is still being put on the resale market."
Single-family home sales registered 6,639 units last month, an increase of 12.3 percent from October 2013. The average home price climbed to $262,013, up 9.8 percent year-over-year.
| CATEGORIES | October 2013 | October 2014 | CHANGE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total property sales | 7,182 | 8,106 | 12.90% |
| Total dollar volume | $1,650,628,141 | $2,016,260,648 | 22.20% |
| Total active listings | 31,638 | 28,333 | -10.40% |
| Total pending sales | 3,995 | 4,355 | 9.00% |
| Single-family home sales | 5,912 | 6,639 | 12.30% |
| Single-family average sales price | $238,525 | $262,013 | 9.80% |
| Single-family median sales price | $177,330 | $192,000 | 8.30% |
| Single-family months inventory* | 3.1 | 2.8 | -10.10% |
Chart credit: HAR
* Months inventory estimates the number of months it will take to deplete current active inventory based on the prior 12 months sales activity. This figure is representative of the single-family homes market.
