It may be a new year, but the real estate market doesn’t appear to see any difference. January started out the same way December ended with consumers continuing to take advantage of historically low-interest rates.
According to the Houston Association of Realtors, single-family home sales across greater Houston totaled 4,699 in January. This is up 14.3% from the same period in 2019. It also represents the seventh consecutive positive month and the greatest January sales volume hike in seven years.
Homes priced between $500,000 and $750,000 drew the most buyers in January followed by homes in the $250,000 to $500,000 range.
Home prices for single-family homes reached an all-time high for November. The median home price rose 4.5 percent to $234,000. The average price rose 4.6 percent to $291,034. Both figures represent the highest prices ever for a January.
According to HAR, total active listings, or the total number of available properties, rose 3.7 percent to 39,699. January sales of all property types totaled 5,800, up 15.2% compared to the same month last year. As a result, the absorption rate for January 2020 was up slightly to 15% from the 13% rate we saw in January of 2019 for all property types.
Days on Market (DOM), or the number of days it took the average home to sell, was 68 compared to 66 a year ago. Inventory registered a 3.5-months supply. That compares to 3.6 months a year earlier and is greater than the current national inventory level of 3.0 months reported by NAR.
According to the Mortgage News Daily, mortgage rates are back near multi-year lows, which is great news if you are looking to buy a home. If rates at or near these levels persist as we enter the Spring, we could see continued home price increases in the near future, which is great news if you are looking to sell your home this year.
