Houston home sales fell for the fifth consecutive month as rising home prices and higher mortgage rates discouraged buyers.
A home is shown for sale on Clover Trace Drive Wednesday, April 13, 2022 in Spring. While the pace of home sales has cooled since earlier in the pandemic, home prices remain elevated in Houston.Single-family home sales slid 16.9 percent in August from the same month a year earlier, according to the Houston Association of Realtors. But prices continue to rise. The median sales price increased nearly 11 percent over the year to $341,950, but remains below the record $354,440 reached in June.
“We are easing our way back to the housing market that existed prior to the pandemic,” said HAR Chair Jennifer Wauhob with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Gary Greene. “For the past two years, Houston housing has been like a runaway train, and what we’ve been seeing most recently is an engineer, finally at the throttle, applying the brakes so the train can pull safely into the next station.
Mortgage rates, meanwhile are close to 6 percent -- about double the rates of a year ago -- leading to significant increases in potential monthly payments and cutting buyers out of the market. Only 39 percent of Houston households earned the minimum annual income needed to purchase a median-priced home in the second quarter this year, down from 53 percent in the same period last year, according to HAR.
“These higher mortgage rates have already impacted activity in the housing market,” said Nadia Evangelou, senior economist at NAR, in a statement. “Nevertheless, home prices continue to rise as inventory remains tight.”
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Germany: Plug-in Car Sales Returned To Growth In August 2022In August, 56,725 new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered in Germany, which is 6% more than a year ago.
Read more »
August 2022 Home/Condo Sales - PoPvilleThanks as always to realtor Kevin Wood for compiling this monthly list of home/condo sales for PoPville. Click below on 'August 2022 Sales' for the full list of sales in PDF and excel formats. August 2022 Sales (PDF) August 2022 Sales (Excel)
Read more »
Russia's August budget surplus down amid sanctions, slow energy flowsInsider tells the global tech, finance, markets, media, healthcare, and strategy stories you want to know.
Read more »
High-stakes inflation report expected to show prices slowed in August but remain elevatedThe August inflation data out Tuesday morning is expected to show that consumer prices slowed in August, but that likely won't be enough to mollify the Federal Reserve.
Read more »
US CPI inflation cools to 8.3% in August, missing estimatesInsider tells the global tech, finance, markets, media, healthcare, and strategy stories you want to know.
Read more »