Our April 2008 sales results are out and the Houston market still maintains relative stability.  For the third month in a row the number of homes slid as compared to the number of homes that sold last year.  However the actual sales price rose to the highest level ever according to the Houston Association of REALTORS.  The average sales price rose by .09 percent to 207,270.  In April of last year the average sales price was $205,490.  The median sales price maintained at $150,000.

I was a little confused about the difference between the median price and the average price so consulted HAR.  The median price is the price that is midway between the least expensive and most expensive home sold in an area during a given period of time. During that time, half the buyers bought homes that cost more than the median price and half bought homes for less than the median price. The average home price is the sum of prices of all homes sold in a certain area in a certain period, divided by the number of properties sold in the same area in that period.

This has been an interesting trend.  Our prices are going up but we are not selling as many homes.  I personally think this has everything to do with what is going on in the lending industry.  It is just harder for people to get loans which correlates in not having as many buyers as we use to have.  The days of the 100% loan are almost gone so the buyers need to have at least a little cash to be able to get in to a house.I think this has to do with the fact that we never saw the huge increases in prices like much of the country; therefore we did not have a bubble to burst. 

This makes our area a bit of an anomaly compared to the rest of the country.  However, there has been a ripple effect.  Point in case is the number of homes that have been sold compared to the number sold last year.  It is interesting however to see that our prices have really not been affected.  We had some milestones in April.  We had the largest number of single family homes sold so far in 2008 with the highest average single family sales price.  The sales of single family homes below $80,000 rose by 27.3 percent.  The sales of townhouse and condominiums reached the highest level since August with the highest median and average price.Our HAR chairman, Michael Levitin summed our market up quite nicely so I am going to leave you with his words.“Coming off of two consecutive record years, the Houston real estate market is demonstrating relative stability while other cities continue to suffer dramatic declines in both sales and pricing,” said Michael Levitin, HAR chairman. “We avoided a bubble thanks to Houston’s history of moderate growth in home values. The healthy local job market and diverse economy have created dynamics that are conducive to a faster recovery and we anticipate conditions to improve in the second half of the year.” If you are considering a move to the Houston Northwest area or the surrounding areas of Spring, Tomball, Magnolia or The Woodlands please give me a call or visit my website. 

For all your Northwest Houston Real Estate  needs, contact me today!
Marchel Peterson
Results Realty
Cell:               832-721-8332       

Real estate is local.  Case in point is our real estate in the Houston area.  2007 was the second best year on record for property sales in Houston according to statistics released by the Houston Association of Realtors.  The only year that was better was the year before in 2006.  Considering that much of the countries housing market has been hit fairly hard Houston is doing okay.  The median sales price was $152,000 which was actually an increase of 1.6% compared to 2006.  The full year average sales price was $206,393 or an increase of 3.9% compared to last year.We moved to this area 11 years ago.  As a brand new agent I had my first listing appointment very shortly after moving here and getting in to the industry.  I ran the comparatives and thought I must have done something wrong.  This gentleman had bought the house in the early 1980′s and according to my comparatives he was upside down.  I went to other experienced agents in the office who talked to me about this little oil bust that happened in Houston in the 1980′s.  Before the oil bust Houston was flying high and homes were appreciating rapidly.  After the bust it was a different story.  They told me tales of only showing foreclosure properties as that was all that was on the market.  So it was not unusual for someone that had bought in the early 1980′s to still be upside down in 1997.  We have shown slow steady growth since that time and the gentleman would no longer be upside down.  Since that time Houston has also diversified.  I personally don’t think our area is totally dependent upon any one industry like they use to be. 

In the 11 years that we have lived here we have seen slow steady growth year after year.  I would talk to friends in other parts of the country and their housing prices were sky rocketing where our growth was more like a tortoise.    I can remember talking to REALTOR friends in other parts of the country who would put a house on the market and quickly have multiple offers.  I remember at the time being a little jealous as our market just kept slowly plodding along.
Fast forward to the present and I just don’t see that we have a bubble to burst like so many other areas have had.  We still do have our fair share of foreclosures because of what happened in the mortgage industry but on the whole our market is not bad. 

Tierra Grande just did an article on the Looming Boom that is predicted to take place in Texas between now and 2030.  They said “The Lone Star State is being “discovered” by the rest of the country because of its affordable housing, lower cost of living and cost of business, greater employment opportunities and appealing lifestyle. Events and circumstances point toward a Texas-sized boom between 2005 and 2030.” You can read Tierra Grande’s Looming Boom Texas through 2030 here; they have some great graphs that show Texas prices compared to the rest of the United States over the last 10 years.

 I took a Generational Marketing Class a few years ago and one of the things they discussed that would really affect Texas was all the baby boomers that are moving away from the colder climates to warmer climates; Texas being one of those warm climates. 

If you are thinking about trading up 2008 might be the perfect time to do it.  As I said Houston has not been as affected as the rest of the country but we do have more homes on the market than we typically do.  This shifts things from a seller’s market to more of a buyer’s market.  This could be the time to make that switch.

I thought about putting pictures of Houston on this post.  I even went over to Istockphotos and pulled up Houston photos but this information is relevant to all of the Houston area so I have included pictures from the areas that I cover; which is the Northwest area.  The pictures are from Spring, The Woodlands and Magnolia area. 

For all your Spring TX Real Estate needs, contact me today!
Marchel Peterson
Results Realty
Cell: 832-721-8332