by Calculated Risk on 7/14/2021 03:07:00 PM

I'm tracking sales and inventory for many local markets.

From the HAR: Houston’s Real Estate Buying Blitz Persists in June

Houston real estate held to record territory in June with buyers continuing to seize upon historically low interest rates as they purchased homes from among a limited supply. Despite the strong buying activity, the pace was slightly slower in the year-over-year comparison.

According to the latest Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) Market Update, single-family homes sales were up 13.6 percent compared to last June, with 10,638 units sold versus 9,362 a year earlier. That becomes the market’s thirteenth consecutive positive month of sales. On a year-to-date basis, home sales remain 25.9 percent ahead of 2020’s record pace.

Once again, homes priced from $750,000 and above dominated in sales volume with a 136.5 percent year-over-year increase. That was followed by the $500,000 to $750,000 segment, which soared 87.0 percent. The surge in high-dollar homebuying again pushed pricing to record-setting levels. The single-family home average price rose 23.7 percent to $395,316 and the median price increased 20.0 percent to $314,500.

Sales of all property types totaled 13,090 – the greatest volume of all time. That is up 16.9 percent from June 2020. Total dollar volume for the month climbed 43.8 percent to a record-setting $4.8 billion.

“The Houston housing market is in overdrive right now, and we know anecdotally that out-of-town investors have contributed to the frenzy,” said HAR Chairman Richard Miranda with Keller Williams Platinum. “We saw similar investment activity following Hurricane Harvey, and within a few months, the market stabilized. We expect stability to return this time around, so anyone in the market for a home who is frustrated by current market conditions needs to be patient.”
emphasis added

Single family inventory declined 31.3% year-over-year from 35,281 in June 2020 to 24,225 in June 2021.   This is just 1.5 months of supply compared to 3.0 months in June 2020.

Note that inventory was up 7.2% compared to the previous month.