by Calculated Risk on 6/12/2018 04:26:00 PM

Two years ago I asked: Will the Rebound in Oil Prices Rescue the Houston Housing Market?

When inventory was declining just about everywhere, inventory was rising in Houston as oil prices declined a few years ago.   More recently, as  oil prices rebounded, inventory has been declining year over year.

The Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) just released data for May.

In May, active listing were down 1.4% year-over-year compared to May2017.   The current level isn't unusually high for the Houston market (inventory was over 50,000 in 2010), but inventory increased significantly when oil prices were falling.

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

This graph shows the number of active listings in Houston since January 2013.

With higher oil prices, inventory has stopped increasing - after increasing for the previous three years.

It does seem the rebound in oil prices has helped the Houston market.