Archive for the 'Spring Texas Real Estate Market Reports' Category
Spring Texas Real Estate: Market Report July 2010
August 19th, 2010 categories: Spring Texas Real Estate Market Reports | views
What’s going on with the Spring Texas Real Estate Market? The market looks a lot like last year in terms of YTD sales. As YTD home sales are down only 4% compared to 2009. Home prices are remaining stable with minimal changes. Minor decreases in sales activity and stable home prices usually means good news to home sellers. But not this year as there are 32% more sellers wanting to sell their Spring Texas homes than last year. The increased competition will push the sellers who really want to sell to be realistic on terms and sales price.
Homes in the $200,000 or less category are seeing the highest buyer activity. While homes at $500,000+ are still languishing on the real estate market.
We are seeing some builders get creative in their efforts to stimulate demand in hopes of moving their completed inventory homes by holding week-end only sales. While other builders try to stimulate demand by offering huge BTSAs to Realtors.
If you are a buyer, it continues to be a good time to buy. As interest rates for 30-year loans are in the low to mid 4% range and are at 50 year lows. The increase in Spring Texas homes for sale gives buyers the upper hand in negotiating terms and sales price with sellers.
Want more numbers? Check out past Spring Texas real estate market reports.
The data represented is from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University and the Houston Association of Realtors MLS for single family existing homes in Area 13. Area 13 covers the geographic boundaries of East – I45 to West – Hwy 249 to South – Beltway 8 to North – Spring Cypress. A good portion of the houses in MLS area 13 have a Spring Texas mailing address
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Spring Texas Real Estate: Market Report June 2010
July 17th, 2010 categories: Spring Texas Real Estate Market Reports | views
What’s going on with the Spring Texas Real Estate Market? It can be summed up with one word “SLOW”. The usually busy summer selling season is anything but that with year over year pending sales being down 30%. Sales for the month were down a much smaller percentage than pending sales due to the lingering effect of the federal home buyer tax credits. Buyers had to be in contract by April 30th to meet the tax credit deadline but they had until June 30th to close on the home. Thus tax credit sales that were pended in April are showing up in June sales figures.
The Spring Texas real estate market has changed from last year’s balanced market which is considered to be 6 months of inventory to a buyers market. Buyers have plenty of homes to choose from with 24% more active listings this year than last.
Sellers are feeling the increase in competition. And the Spring Texas home sellers that need to sell their homes this summer are responding with price decreases. Begrudingly some sellers have decided to play the follow the leader pricing game. Other sellers are reevaluating their plans and are considering pulling their house off the real estate market until it improves.
If you are a buyer, the time to strike is now. You have plenty of Spring Texas homes to choose from, interest rates are ridiculously low in the mid to upper 4% for 30-year home loans, and home sellers are competing for your business. By late fall, I predict we will see the return of a balanced market. But until then buyers its your turn to call the shots.
Want more numbers? Check out past Spring Texas real estate market reports.
The data represented is from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University and the Houston Association of Realtors MLS for single family existing homes in Area 13. Area 13 covers the geographic boundaries of East – I45 to West – Hwy 249 to South – Beltway 8 to North – Spring Cypress. A good portion of the houses in MLS area 13 have a Spring Texas mailing address
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Spring Texas Real Estate: Market Report May 2010
June 15th, 2010 categories: Spring Texas Real Estate Market Reports | views
What’s going on with the, Spring Texas Real Estate Market? The expiration of the federal home buyers tax credits generated a 27% increase in May’s sales versus the prior year. The expiration of the tax credits also impacted the pending sales but in the opposite direction with a 11% decrease. Active Listings are up 15% over the prior year.
Although the federal tax credits have expired, their impact will continue to be felt on the Spring Texas real estate market through out the summer. With buyers having pushed up their home purchases to cash in on the tax credits, there will be more real estate agents at the pool than showing homes this summer.
With less buyers and more sellers, active listings have increased along with months of inventory. Recent announcements of job lay-offs at HP, Continental’s headquarters moving to Chicago, high unemployment rates, dismal stock market performance, and the diaster in the gulf are all factors / events that have caused consumer confidence to dwindle. Low consumer confidence will continue to negatively impact the Spring Texas real estate market especially homes for sale at $500,000+ where months of inventory remain at 12+ months.
With the interest rate for 30-year home loans right under 5%, the Spring Texas real estate market still has low interest rates in its favor. But low home mortgage interest rates can not support the real estate market by itself. We need some good news like ”Job Creation” to increase home sales.
If you would like to find out what Mark Woodroof, one of the owners of Prudential Gary Greene Realtors, has to say about the Houston real estate market, then watch this short YouTube video.
Want more numbers? Check out past Spring Texas real estate market reports.
The data represented is from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University and the Houston Association of Realtors MLS for single family existing homes in Area 13. Area 13 covers the geographic boundaries of East – I45 to West – Hwy 249 to South – Beltway 8 to North – Spring Cypress. A good portion of the houses in MLS area 13 have a Spring Texas mailing address
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Spring Texas Real Estate: Market Report April 2010
May 17th, 2010 categories: Spring Texas Real Estate Market Reports | views
What’s going on with the Spring Texas Real Estate Market? Fueled by the last minute rush from buyers wanting to take advantage of the tax credits before there expiration on April 30th, home sales for the month were 27% higher than April 2009. While the prior year’s month over month showed a significant increase, there was no corresponding increase over the prior year’s YTD sales figure.
The YTD average sales price and median sales price are slightly higher but not due to price appreciation. The increase is attributable to a shift in the distribution of home sales with a larger percentage of the sales occurring at the higher price ranges. Months of inventory which is the quantity of time it would take for all the homes currently on the Spring Texas real estate market to sell based upon prior sales activity is 6.o months. Six months of inventory is considered to be a balanced market with neither buyers nor sellers having the upper hand.
Homes in the over $400,000 price range are still suffering from a buyer’s market with months of inventory in the 8 to 10 months range. The home buyers tax credits spurred activity in the lower price ranges but had little to no impact on the upper price ranges.
You can expect to see a significant decrease in pending home sales for May versus April. As we have experienced a signficant decrease in showing activity since the end of April. It will be interesting to see what the YTD home sales figures are in September. Until then, we won’t be able to determine if the tax credits fueled a true increase in home sales or merely pushed up the timing of home sales.
Want more numbers? Check out past Spring Texas real estate market reports
The data represented is from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University and the Houston Association of Realtors MLS for single family existing homes in Area 13. Area 13 covers the geographic boundaries of East – I45 to West – Hwy 249 to South – Beltway 8 to North – Spring Cypress. A good portion of the houses in MLS area 13 have a Spring Texas mailing address
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Spring Texas Real Estate: Market Report March 2010
April 17th, 2010 categories: Spring Texas Real Estate Market Reports | views
What’s going on with the Spring Texas Real Estate Market? The real estate market for March is the first month of 2010 that does not look like its 2009 deja vu. Sales of 176 for the month were down 13.6% compared to March 2009. New listings were 440 for the month which is 16% more than March 2009. Months of inventory jumped to 6.3 months which is 12.5% more than in March 2009.
What do all these measurements of the Spring Texas real estate market mean? In a nutshell … it is all about the first time home buyers tax credit. Sellers who would have waited until the summer to put their house on the market put in on earlier in hopes of snagging a first time home buyer. Months of inventory increased due to the increase in listings. Sales are down because there are not as many first time home buyers in the market as everyone hoped for.
The first time home buyers still continue to be the drivers of the market. As 81% of the sales for the month occurred in the the under $200,000 price range.
Buyers at the $600,000 and above price range are beginning to come back out into the market. These buyers have seen a partial rebound in their portfolios and with low interest rates and beaten down home prices they recognize a good buying opportunity.
For a closer view of the numbers, click on the graph.
Want more numbers? Check out past Spring Texas real estate market reports
The data represented is from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University and the Houston Association of Realtors MLS for single family existing homes in Area 13. Area 13 covers the geographic boundaries of East – I45 to West – Hwy 249 to South – Beltway 8 to North – Spring Cypress. A good portion of the houses in MLS area 13 have a Spring TX mailing address
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Spring Texas Real Estate: Market Report February 2010
March 17th, 2010 categories: Spring Texas Real Estate Market Reports | views
What’s going on with the Spring Texas Real Estate Market? The real estate market continues to resemble 2009. The sales for the month of February were 134 which is 11 sales fewer or 7.5% less than February 2009’s number of 145. Active listings total 1,087 which is 1.7% less listings than February 2009. Again not much different. Months of inventory is 5.7 months which is 5.5% more than in February 2009. Again not much different.
The under $200,000 price range continues to be the price range of preference. In January, 77% of all sales occurred in this price range and in February the number increased to 82%.
As the first-time home buyers tax credit draws closer to its upcoming expiration date of April 30 2010, the lower price ranges will continue to grab the largest share of the pie.
For a closer view of the numbers, click on the graph.
While the first-time home buyers tax credit has motivated buyers to purchase now instead of later, the $6,500 move-up tax credit has not produced the same results. Buyers are aware of the existence of the move-up tax credit but very few are taking advantage of it. The reward of $6,500 is not enough in comparison to the uncertainty of the economy for this group of buyers.
Sometimes the monthly numbers don’t reveal everything that is happening in the Spring Texas real estate market. We get all kinds of great numbers such as sales, pending sales, days on market, median sales price and months of inventory. But what we don’t get is quantity of showings. In February and in March, we have experienced an increase in the quantity of showings for homes in the $500,000+. We have not seen a corresponding increase in the quantity of sales but usually sales are not too far behind showings. The increase in showings give hope once again to these upper price range sellers that have seen very few lookers and even fewer buyers for many, many months.
Want more numbers? Check out past Spring Texas real estate market reports
The data represented is from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University and the Houston Association of Realtors MLS for single family existing homes in Area 13. Area 13 covers the geographic boundaries of East – I45 to West – Hwy 249 to South – Beltway 8 to North – Spring Cypress. A good portion of the houses in MLS area 13 have a Spring TX mailing address
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Spring Texas Real Estate: Market Report Januaury 2010
February 15th, 2010 categories: Spring Texas Real Estate Market Reports | views
The Spring Texas real estate market for January 2010 looks a lot like January 2009. Months of inventory (time it would take all single family homes in Spring Texas to sell) is 5.6 months. Not much difference from last year’s 5.4 months of inventory. Active listings (homes on the real estate market) are 1,056. Again not much difference than last year’s number of 1,140 listings.
The noticeable difference between January 2009 and 2010 is in the average sales price. For January 2010 the average sales price was $160,096 versus $138,464 from the previous year. The January 2010 median sales price experienced a slight increase of 3.4% to $135,000.
Thus the jump in the average sales price was not attributable to price appreciation but instead due to a larger percentage of higher priced homes being sold. Buyers at the $400,000 and above sales price are still in hibernation with 72% of total home sales occurring at prices of $169,999 or less.
Over the last couple of months, first time home buyers have been doing a lot of searching but not a lot of buying. That is all about to change. With the April 30th tax credit expiration date only 74 days away, homes for sale in Spring Texas in the $200,000 or less price range will be receiving a significant increase in showing activity. Sellers get ready. A first time home buyer will soon be sending you an offer.
The data represented is from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University and the Houston Association of Realtors MLS for single family existing homes in Area 13. Area 13 covers the geographic boundaries of East – I45 to West – Hwy 249 to South – Beltway 8 to North – Spring Cypress. A good portion of the houses in MLS area 13 have a Spring TX mailing address
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Spring Texas Real Estate 2009 – Year in Review
January 15th, 2010 categories: Spring Texas Real Estate Market Reports | views
With the February 2009 numbers of home sales down 30% and median sales price down 16%, the Spring Texas real estate market was off to a frightening start. The 8.5% of the Houston Realtors who decided not to practice real estate at the end of 2008 were starting to look like the smart ones in the room.
As we progressed further into the year, our government finalized a first-time homebuyers tax program and a program to purchase mortgage backed securities keeping interest rates at record lows plus the stock market began to recover. All of these events combined helped the Spring Texas real estate market to end the year signficantly stronger than how it began.
With home sales (2,288) being down 11% and the median home price ($137,000) being down 2.5% from 2008, the real estate market for 2009 was not great. Its all relative though because if you compared our market to real estate markets in other parts of the country, our market fared significantly better.
What should you expect from the Spring Texas real estate market in 2010?
- New construction – Flat. Metrostudy expects about 18,000 new homes to be built in the Houston area which is the same number as 2009. New homes levels will be at 65% of 2006 when 51,000 homes were built.
- Interest rates – Low through Q1 then increase. Interest rates are generationally low. They will continue to hover in the low 5 percent range while the government continues its commitment to purchase mortgage backed securities. At the conclusion of the program which is anticipated to be the end of March, the interest rates will begin rising. They will end the year around the mid to upper 5 percent range.
- Hottest price ranges – $400,000 or less. During the first half of the year, the hottest price ranges will mirror 2009 which were homes priced at $400,000 or less. After the homebuyers tax credit programs end on June 30th, I predict the lower price ranges will still be the drivers of the market. The economy along with higher paying jobs are required before we will see an increase in sales activity at the upper price ranges.
- Home prices – Stable. Less new homes will favor the resale market. The less competition will keep prices stable and provide upwards pressure.
- Whose market? Buyers or Sellers? – Dependendent upon the price range. $200,000 or less price ranges the sellers will have a slight upper hand in the market, $200,000 to $400,000 will be a balanced market, and $400,000+ will be a buyers market.
How will 2010 compare to 2009? In the end the total numbers of homes sales will show a slight increase over 2009. The median sales price will also experience an increase as more homes will be sold in the higher price ranges as the economy improves.
For more numbers, check out the Real Estate Market Reports category.
The data represented is from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University and the Houston Association of Realtors MLS for single family existing homes in Area 13. Area 13 covers the geographic boundaries of East – I45 to West – Hwy 249 to South – Beltway 8 to North – Spring Cypress. A good portion of the houses in MLS area 13 have a Spring TX mailing address
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Spring TX Real Estate: Market Report November 2009
December 15th, 2009 categories: Spring Texas Real Estate Market Reports | views
How’s the Spring TX real estate market? Are the YTD numbers still down compared to 2008? Is the market getting any better?
The Spring TX real estate market is still down compared to 2008 but in comparison to the first of the year the numbers are showing some significant improvement.
November 2009 YTD:
- Sales are 2,090 – down 11.6%
- Pending Sales are 985 – down 16.5%
- Active Listings are 804 – down 21.1%
- Months of inventory is 5.7 – down a full month or 15%
In comparison to the February YTD sales being down 29.8%, our November number of sales down 11.6% is an extreme improvement. A similar improvement is seen in the pending sales as the February YTD pending sales were down 33.5% while the November pending sales were only down 16.5%.
The good news continues with 21.1% less homes on the market this year than last year. Less homes on the market coupled with decent sales has reduced the months of inventory to 5.7 months and a return to a more balanced market between buyers and sellers.
The bad news is not all price points in the single family resale market are experiencing a return to a more balanced market. There are plenty of homes for sale at the $400,000+ price point with the months of inventory ranging from 9.6 to 22 months.
The extension and expansion of the home buyers tax credit coupled with low mortgage interest rates should continue to help the Spring Texas real estate market improve in 2010. Home sales in the $400,000+ price range will continue to struggle until the economy improves, unemployment declines, and consumer sentiment strengthens.
For more numbers, check out the Real Estate Market Reports category.
The data represented is from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University and the Houston Association of Realtors MLS for single family existing homes in Area 13. Area 13 covers the geographic boundaries of East – I45 to West – Hwy 249 to South – Beltway 8 to North – Spring Cypress. A good portion of the houses in MLS area 13 have a Spring TX mailing address
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Spring TX Real Estate: Market Report September 2009
October 14th, 2009 categories: Spring Texas Real Estate Market Reports | views
How’s the Spring TX Real Estate market? According to the recently released September 2009 data, our real estate market is still chugging along and continues to show improvement over 2008.
For those of you who don’t remember last September Hurricane IKE barreled through our area and brought all real estate sales activity in the Spring Texas area to a screeching halt. Thus comparing September 2008 to September 2009 shows skewed numbers.
For a more accurate representation of how the Spring TX real estate market is fairing I am comparing September 2008 YTD to September 2009 YTD. Area 13 single family home sales are 1,683 (16.7% less than the prior year) and active listings are 1,103 (33% less than the prior year). The larger decrease in active listings than the decrease in sales has created a decrease in the months of inventory by 1.1 months. With the months of inventory sitting at 5.7 months, our real estate market has shifted from being a buyer’s market to a more balanced market.
Unfortunately a balanced market has not returned to all price ranges. Homes in the $400,000+ price ranges are firmly in a buyer’s market as months of inventory is 10+ months. First-time home buyers are still the driving force in the real estate market as the months of inventory in the $100,000 to $170,000 price ranges are between 4.6 and 5.5 months. At 87, the days on market is not showing any significant change from the prior year of 89 days. Sellers are not desperate to sale as the Sales Price to List Price is holding steady at 97%.
I am predicting the Spring TX real estate market to continue to improve through out the remainder of the year. If the first time home buyers tax credit is NOT extended, the months of inventory for the $100,000 to $170,000 price range will increase and the market will shift from a sellers market to a balanced market.
For more numbers, check out the Real Estate Market Reports category.
The data represented is from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University and the Houston Association of Realtors MLS for single family existing homes in Area 13. Area 13 covers the geographic boundaries of East – I45 to West – Hwy 249 to South – Beltway 8 to North – Spring Cypress. A good portion of the houses in MLS area 13 have a Spring TX mailing address.
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