Houston Dec 2017 & Year-End Real Estate Market Update

Houston had quite a year last year and despite the blows received by Hurricane Harvey, the Houston real estate market still managed to set new records by years end.  There was a 3.5 % rise in single-family home sales for 2017 compared to the previous year, which also happened to be a record year. However, due to the storm, the supply of housing remains constrained at the start of the new year.

The latest MLS report released by the Houston Association of Realtors, there was a 3.5% increase in sales of all property types in 2017  for a total of 94,726 units, compared to 2016, which totaled 91,530 units.  Additionally, the total dollar volume for single-family homes sold in 2017 was $23 billion, a 6.5% jump from 2016.  In 2017, the median price rose 3.8% to $229,900.

If we look at the stats for the final month of the year, there were 6,875 single-family home sales, a 4.1% increase versus December 2016.  Total property sales for December 2017 also leaped 3.5% to 8,125.  The single-family home median price rose to $230,000, a 1.7% increase from the same time the previous year, which comes in at a record high for median price ever for a December.

The report also detailed that townhome and condominium sales also showed an increase by 3.2% in December 2017, with 552 units selling versus 535 in December 2016.  Both average and median prices dropped in December 2017 to $199,197 (5.5% decrease) and $158,250 (9.3% decrease), respectively.

Lastly, the leasing market in Houston showed mixed performance.  While single family homes leases showed a decrease by 3.6%, townhome and condominium leases rose 7.3%.  Both single family and townhome/condominium average rent had increased rates in December 2017 – $1,745 (3.3% increase) for single family, and $1,532 (2.4% increase) for townhomes and condos.