Seven Months 2016 Market Report for South Katy TX- MLS Area 36
I always prefer to examine year-to-date data throughout any given year and look at year to year comparisons for discovering market trends as I think there is too much volatility on a month to month basis to make any conclusions. My primary market is South Katy or MLS area 36. Of course I also am interested in MLS 25 or North Katy; MLS area 37 Fort Bend West; MLS 29 Fort Bend-Sugar Land and Stafford plus a few others in Cypress TX.
Seven months YTD 2016 versus Seven months YTD 2015 for MLS for South Katy comparison shows some interesting trends. Here are the salient numbers:
Units sold in 2016 decreased from 2,025 in 2015 to 1,935 during 2016 which is a 4.4% decrease and appears to be getting worst as the year goes on. At the same time Average prices decreased by approximately 4.3 % from approx $352,200 to $337,100 during 2016. Median prices also decreased in 2016 by Approx. 3.3 % from $320,000 in 2015 to $309,400 in 2016. Prices have fallen for the first time in several years. South Katy generally is a stable market which shows gradually rising prices.
The price decrease continues to be mainly due to energy prices dropping significantly last and early this year and energy companies laying off over 20% of their Houston workforce. The layoff trend will continue for a few more months based on what experts are saying before it stabilizes . The low levels of available inventory from the last several years has cushioned the impact for many months especially in late 2015 and now it is having have a negative impact on 2016 sales and prices. In addition, new car sales in the Houston area have plunged by 38 % in July 2016 and this is the fifth consecutive month where sales have lagged the comparable period last year..
New Listings also increased by approximately 9.3% during 2016 and active listing went up by approx. 38.6 %. Inventory levels of homes priced above $350 K have definitely increased and probably will continue to do so during the rest of 2016. There is a lot of homes available for sale priced at $500,000 and above price level and many of these homes are languishing on the market .
Days on the market have moved from 44 days to 54 days and months of inventory which were almost hyper market level numbers the last several years went from 3.2 months to 4.5 months in 2016. Obviously South Katy is still, depending on the price point, a seller's market but weakening quicking each month.
Pending sales have decreased by a small amount from 2,208 to 2,194 or about .6%.
The closing price to original list price is 95.7 % and has definitely deteriorated during 2016.
Demand for affordable family homes has risen in South Katy and available inventory is still very low and frankly hard to find if the condition is good or better. I consider affordable to be homes priced at $300,000 or less. The demand and supply equation gets much worse when looking for homes priced at less than $200,000.
I personally think units of sale in 2016 will continue to drop but has slightly improved in the last few months of 2016 and prices will continue to move downwards. Some older neighborhoods will probably experience a fairly large price decrease during the remainder of 2016 and some neighborhoods will probably experience a small price increase or stay flat. I do not see new home builders reducing their prices. The best new buyers might see are larger builder’s price incentives which has started to occur in certain communities and will continue.
If you have questions about the South Katy market or any other surrounding area call me and let's get started finding you and your family a home. There are still excellent opportunities to buy a really nice home. If you like some information about these available family homes, I can create a custom search for you which will be presented to you on your own web page. These are generalized market trend numbers and every home needs to be evaluated by itself and based on many factors. Computer models estimates are extremely inaccurate.
There is no implied or express warranty or guarantee of accuracy of the above figures. All figures were obtained from the Houston Association Realtors MLS system. These market numbers are constantly changing on a daily basis as this is a very dynamic market.
Seven Months 2016 Market Report for South Katy TX- MLS Area 36
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