HOUSTON -- October was a good month for the sales of new and existing homes in the Houston area, at least when compared to last year at this time, when the region was reeling from Hurricane Ike and a sudden freeze of global credit markets.
According to the Houston Association of Realtors, the number of single-family homes sold in the Houston area in October 2009 rose nearly 14 percent when compared to October 2008. The median price of homes also rose by 5 percent, to $149,000. The median figure represents the most common mid-point of all home sales. The average price of a single-family home, which is the sum of the value of all home sales divided by the number of homes sold, was $198,639 -- up three percent from a year ago.
A spokesperson for the Houston Association of Realtors said the average price is the highest ever recorded in the month of October in Houston.
Foreclosure sales have remained flat this fall, the Realtors said, measuring nearly 19 percent of all single-family home sales in the region. Last year at this time, foreclosures represented 26 percent of all sales, and were as high as 34 percent in January.
The following chart comes directly from the Houston Association of Realtors:
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| * Months inventory estimates the number of months it will take to deplete current active inventory based on the prior 12 months sales activity. This figure is representative of the single-family homes market. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In addition, the Realtors reported that the number of single-family homes being actively leased in the Houston area has dropped by 12 percent compared to last October. Rentals of townhomes also dipped by nearly six percent.
