Are Increased Selling Times and Lower Values Due to Buyer Financing Issues?

Tuesday, 20 May 2008 06:00

Har.com, the Houston Association of Realtors website, just released the latest market activity statistics for the month of April. To no surprise, the Houston real estate market is still fairing better than other areas but we may be seeing signs of decline in the near future. For those of you who do not know, Houston's relatively low cost of living and stable employment rates have kept the housing bubble at bay so far. However, this doesn't mean our market hasn't slowed down since this time last year. Let's look at the stats below:

ALL CATEGORIES	April 2007	April 2008	PERCENT CHANGE
Total property sales	7,372	6,432	-12.8%
Total dollar volume	$1,433,924,268	$1,291,822,134	-9.9%
Average single-family sales price	$205,490	$207,270	+0.9%
Median single-family sales price	$150,000	$150,000	0.0%
Total active listings	49,946	53,080	+6.3%
Total pending sales	5,460	4,935	-9.6%
Months inventory*	5.8	6.4	+11.6%

* 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.

As we can see, single family home prices have risen almost 1% since this time last year. Not shown above, but very important, is the fact that both February and March of this year had average increases of almost 5% over the previous year. This means April was a fairly unspectacular month. Also, the number of homes actively listed for sale has increased by 6.3% while Days on Market have lengthened as well. This means more homes are currently for sale then there are buyers to purchase them.

If you think about this, you have to wonder how much the current "credit crunch" and mortgage crisis is affecting Houstonians' ability to purchase homes. Above we have clear proof that properties are being listed at reasonable selling prices, yet they are taking much longer to move then this time last year. I think an important statistic to observe would be how many listings have gone from "Pending Sale" or "Option Pending" and reverted back to "Active" status due to the buyer's inability to secure a loan...?

But fear not! April is historically a "ramp up" month in which we see a slight decline in sales and prices as many people are holding back until the Summer months to place their properties up for sale. With that said, I'm patiently awaiting the Summer to arrive so we can truly assess the state of the real estate market in the Greater Houston Area.

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