Real Estate Rumblings
Buying a house in Texas has never been more expensive: Average price reaches 230 grand
With Texas' housing inventory at an all-time low, home prices have skyrocketed statewide.
According to the Texas Quarterly Housing Report, the statewide median price for a single-family home reached $177,100 during the third quarter of this year, up 10 percent from last year. Sales during the most recent quarter were up 19 percent from last year.
Additionally, the statewide average price increased by 11 percent from the same quarter last year, coming to $230,474. In terms of the Houston area, the median price for a single-family home was $185,000 for the quarter, a 12-percent increase from the same period last year.
“In the fall, Texas Realtors usually start to catch their breath as the summer selling season draws to a close, but not this year."
According to the report, 80,105 single-family homes were sold in Texas in the third quarter of 2013, which is 19 percent more than the same quarter last year and, for the second quarter in a row, it marks the highest volume of homes sold in Texas since the Texas Association of Realtors began issuing the report in 2009.
In Houston alone, home sales were up 20 percent. This volume, while about the same as in the second quarter, indicates that activity was elevated during the typically slower fall season.
“In the fall, Texas Realtors usually start to catch their breath as the summer selling season draws to a close, but not this year,” Houston realtor Shad Bogany, chairman of the Texas Association of Realtors, told Business Wire. “Demand for Texas homes remains strong, keeping buyers and sellers in the market, and Texas Realtors, busy.”
Additionally, housing inventory has fallen to historic lows in both the Houston area and statewide.
“To have only four months of inventory in a market as large as Texas is remarkable,” economist Jim Gaines told the Chronicle. “Of the 47 markets included in the report, 10 have less than three months of inventory and that includes several large markets, such as Austin and Dallas.”
The Texas Quarterly Housing Report is issued four times per year by the Texas Association of Realtors with multiple listing service data compiled and analyzed by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.
