Houston Real Estate Market Report August 2018
It’s been a year since Hurricane Harvey and its effects are still lingering. The Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) just released the Houston Real Estate Market Report for August 2018 and the housing statistics have been thrown out of whack due to Harvey as most real estate activity across the greater Houston market halted during the last week of August 2017 and beyond. HAR provided two separate analyses for August, one providing the actual numbers for the full month and the second to help provide a more accurate and statistically relevant assessment of market conditions by removing the “Harvey effect” (last week of the month).
Single-Family Homes
Traditional analysis revealed single-family home sales increased 37.2% with 8,358 homes sold in August compared to the 6,090 one year earlier when Harvey struck. HAR also analyzed single-family home sales for August 1 – 24 (Harvey struck August 25, 2017), which showed sales up 7.6% in August 2018, with 5,844 homes sold compared to 5,433 during the same time frame last year. The single-family median price increased 3.0% to $236,870, and the average price rose 1.9% to $300,670, both record highs for an August. Days on Market was 49 days versus 51 in August 2017. Inventory decreased by 0.2 months to a 4.1-months supply in August 2018. Removing the “Harvey effect”, single-family home leases climbed 7.6% and the average rent rose 3.4% to $1,926.
* denotes the removal of the “Harvey effect”
Townhouse/Condominium
Townhomes and condominium sales rose in August despite Harvey. Traditional analysis shows that 665 units sold compared to 465 a year earlier, a 43.0% increase. Removing the “Harvey effect”, sales increased 12.3%, with 457 units sold in 2018 compared to 407 in 2017. The average price rose 5.4% to $207,185 and the median price increased 3.3% to $164,240. Housing inventory declined slightly by 0.1 months to 4.4-months. Removing the “Harvey effect”, volume of townhome/condominium leases declined 8.6% and the average rent up 5.5% to $1,639.
