Price brrrrrreak
One season is hottest to buy a rental home in Houston, study says
If you’re hunting for a single-family rental home in Houston, the buyer’s market is hottest when it’s cold outside.
A new study by HomeUnion, an online platform for real estate investment and management, shows you can score a 13.9 percent discount on a single-family rental home in Houston if you buy it during the winter instead of the summer.
HomeUnion puts the median summertime price of a single-family rental home in Houston at $168,500, compared with a wintertime price of $145,000.
In its review of single-family rental homes for major metro areas, HomeUnion found wintertime is the best time to snag bargains on single-family rental homes around the country.
Among the top 10 bargain metros in HomeUnion’s ranking, single-family rental homes are discounted between 20 percent and 32 percent in the winter months versus the summer months. Houston appears at No. 25 in the ranking of bargain markets.
“Median home prices drop substantially during the colder months, while rent losses remain marginal for landlords,” says Steve Hovland, research director at HomeUnion.
“Home prices are seasonal, as many buyers and sellers delay an acquisition or disposition to avoid a move during a school year,” he adds. “As a result, smaller homes occupied by empty nesters or childless families are more likely to change hands.”
The only other Texas metro among HomeUnion’s top 40 bargain markets is Dallas-Fort Worth, which ranks No. 18. In the Dallas area, the median price of a single-family rental home is $201,900 during the summer but $167,000 in the winter, a difference of 17.3 percent, according to HomeUnion.