another hot july
Houston homes sales scorched in July 2021 — despite numbers showing otherwise
Generally speaking, real estate reports are generated by statistics and data. But in a development that’s just so typically Houston, data showing a home sales downturn actually belies yet another surge in our local sales frenzy.
According to the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR), single-family homes sales were down 6.1 percent compared to last July. Specifically, the HAR report finds 10,159 units sold in July 2021 versus the historic 10,822 that sold a year earlier.
Yet, the Houston housing market is up 13.9 percent when compared to July 2019, which was considered an average month of home sales with volume totaling 8,921, HAR notes.
On a year-to-date basis, local home sales currently exceed 2020’s record pace by some 19.1 percent.
Why the disparity? While the numbers suggested that Houston-area home sales were down this July, a slew of COVID-related home closing delays during Q2 2020 finally pushed through as most of the pandemic lockdowns were lifted. The resulting surge of pent-up sales made July 2020 a record-setting month.
Meanwhile, the upper-echelon market continues to dominate in Houston real estate. Homes priced from $750,000 and above led the way in sales volume with a 36.7 percent year-over-year increase, HAR notes. Sales for houses priced $500,000 to $750,000 rose 18.9 percent.
Home prices also climbed: The single-family home average price increased 15.3 percent to $389,197, while the median price climbed 13.9 percent to $309,910. HAR notes that this increase marks the second highest pricing of all time behind last month’s record-setting figures.
Total dollar volume for the month rose 11.4 percent to $4.5 billion, per the HAR report. Sales of all property types fell 3.7 percent year-over-year, totaling 12,383. But, that’s still the third greatest volume of all time behind June 2021 (13,115) and July 2020 (12,865).
“We know anecdotally that the Houston real estate market is still red-hot, but the statistics make it appear to be slower than a year ago because of the surge in home closings that took place last July when the market began to normalize with the lifting of pandemic-related restrictions,” said HAR chairman Richard Miranda with Keller Williams Platinum, in a statement.
A rendering illustrates one of the building's penthouses.Rendering courtesy of Shimahara Visual