Ultimately, even the historic destruction caused by Hurricane Harvey in August of last year, and the lingering effects of the storm (still felt by so many), could not stop Houston’s real estate market from setting a new record for single-family home sales in 2017. December marked a strong end to the record-setting year with home sales up a noteworthy amount, year-over-year, but inventory still remains very low.
According to the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR), in the month of December:
There were 33,432 total active listings.
6,875 single-family homes were sold.
The average days on the market for sold homes was 62 days.
The median sales price for single-family homes was $230,000.
The average sales price for single-family homes was $292,174.
The inventory for single-family homes was 3.2-months supply.
December largely continued the post-Harvey revival we’ve seen in Houston’s market, led by a 4.1 percent year-over-year increase in single-family home sales. Median single-family home price was also on the rise, up 1.9 percent over the previous December. That brought it to $230,000, which marked a new high for a December in Houston. Things were not all positive in December though, as average price for single-family homes took a small step back, declining by 0.6 percent. Inventory, which has been a concern ever since Harvey hit, ended the year at 3.2- months supply, which is below the 3.4-months supply seen 12 months prior, and 1.1 months below the pre-Harvey peak of 4.3-months supply.
2017 showed the resilient spirit of the city of Houston. And our real estate market was a reflection of that resiliency. Harvey made landfall in late August, yet somehow, year-over-year home sales were already climbing again in September. This was the start of an incredible resurgence to end the year, a resurgence that allowed the city to beat the previous record for single-family home sales (set in 2016) by a rather substantial 3.5 percent! Moving forward in the aftermath of Harvey, our city still faces many challenges (a shortage of inventory is the one that always comes to mind for me), both in real estate and in general, but I wouldn’t bet against Houston in 2018.
