by Calculated Risk on 2/11/2021 12:04:00 PM

From the HAR: Houston Real Estate Kicks Off 2021 With Gusto

Even as the supply of homes across the greater Houston area continues to shrink, homebuyers were out in force in January, snapping up properties that were still on the market and extending the breakneck momentum with which 2020 ended. The luxury housing segment drew the strongest sales activity during the first month of the new year, with homebuyers also driving brisk sales among mid-range homes.

According to the latest Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) Market Update, 6,088 single-family homes sold in January compared to 4,769 a year earlier. That accounted for a 27.7 percent increase and marked the eighth straight month of positive sales.
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Sales of all property types totaled 7,519 – up 27.5 percent from January 2020. Total dollar volume for the month surged 42.8 percent to $2.3 billion.
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Single-family home sales, total property sales and total dollar volume all rose compared to January 2020. Pending sales shot up 34.5 percent. However, total active listings – or the total number of available properties – fell 31.3 percent as new listings trickled onto the market.
emphasis added

Inventory declined 31.3% year-over-year from 38,256 in January 2020 to 26,271 in January 2021.   This is just 1.8 months of supply.

Note that the closed sales in January were for contracts that were mostly signed in November and December.