Houston’s housing market is poised to end 2011 in a better place than where it was last year.
Through November, areawide home sales for the year were up 4.1 percent over the same period a year ago, the Houston Association of Realtors reported Tuesday. The median price of a single-family home ticked up slightly to $154,500 during that period.
Despite concerns about the global economy, local housing experts are optimistic going into 2012 as growth in the energy industry helps create jobs in Houston.
“That’s what drives the market,” said Carlos Bujosa, the association’s chairman. “Next year we should have a pretty good market if the employment picture continues on the track that it’s on.”
In November, area home sales jumped 11.4 percent, rising for the sixth straight month.
The year-over-year increase, along with higher pending sales and a decline in housing inventory, reflects healthy absorption in housing, the association said.
Some homeowners are feeling better too.
Kerrie Nanni recently listed her three-bedroom townhouse near Rice Military after the tenants who had been renting it for the last year moved out.
She’s noticed other homes in her neighborhood selling in a reasonable amount time versus sitting on the market for months. Some have had to lower their asking prices, but nowhere near “fire sale” levels.
“I’m feeling a lot more confident about it now than I was a year ago,” said Nanni.
Still, the market today is being compared to a time when housing was depressed after the expiration of the home buyer tax credit. And there are other issues to work through.
“There are more foreclosures than anyone would like there to be. And despite the fact that there are a lot of new jobs in the Houston area, there are still a lot of people who are unemployed. That’s going to continue to be a stress on the market,” Bujosa said.
As long as employment expectations are met, the association predicts the housing market will continue to strengthen.
The Greater Houston Partnership has forecast more than 84,000 jobs will be added in this region next year. The group expects just over 80,000 will be created this year.
Realtors sold 3,973 single-family homes in November, a month that saw an increase in prices too.
The single-family home median price – the figure at which half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less – reached the highest level for a November in Houston, climbing 2.6 percent to $154,950, according to the association, which tracks sales on the Multiple Listing Service.
Richard Zigler, who’s closing on a house in the Heights on Thursday, said he found asking prices to be inconsistent.
“Some people still think we’re in a boom time and those houses languish on the market,” he said.
December should be another positive month, the association reported.
Month-end pending sales for November totaled 3,013. That’s up 16.6 percent over last year.
The number of available properties, or active listings, at the end of November declined 13.0 percent from November 2010 to 45,113.
The inventory of single-family homes dropped to its lowest level since January 2010, 6.2 months, compared with 7.6 months a year earlier. That means it would take 6.2 months to sell all the single-family homes on the market based on sales activity over the past year.
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