Although sales failed to outperform April 2021’s sales volume, the Houston Real Estate market in Houston continued at a fairly robust pace in April of 2022. This is the first time in 2022 that sales volume failed to beat last year’s historic pace.
Despite the rising mortgage rate environment, homebuyers continued to gobble up available properties. According to the latest report from the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR), April 2022 home sales were statistically flat compared to April 2021. 9,079 units sold in April compared to 9,100 in April of last year. Homes priced between $500,000 and $1 million experienced the largest increase in sales in April, registering a 45.0 percent year-over-year sales volume gain. That was followed by the luxury market – consisting of homes priced at $1 million and above – which shot up 24.9 percent.
After hitting record home prices in March, April home prices continued to push even higher. The average price of a single-family home rose 14.9 percent to $426,061 while the median price jumped 16.6 percent to $343,990.
Although pending sales and home sales were relatively flat year over year, the market remained pretty robust. According to HAR, total active listings, or the total number of available properties, rose 5.2 percent to 22,475. April sales of all property types totaled 11,384, up only .2% compared to the same month last year. As a result, the absorption rate for April 2022 was 51 percent, which even outperformed last April.
Days on Market (DOM), or the actual time it took to sell a home, has continued to fall over the last few months. In April, the average home sold in 33 days, which is lower than the 40 days on market we saw last April. Months of inventory edged up to a 1.4-months supply, which is just slightly above the lowest level of all time. For perspective, housing inventory across the U.S. currently stands at a 2-months supply, according to the latest National Association of Realtors (NAR) report. Inventory is still very low.
Despite some softening of the numbers, the real estate market in Houston continues to be very strong. We are still seeing quite a number of multiple offer situations in many neighborhoods and among some property types. Although mortgage rates have risen over the past few months, the appetite for Houston homes has not waned. We anticipate this will continue through the Spring and into the Summer.
