Houston Real Estate Market Report, September 2008

For the thirteenth consecutive month, the Houston Real Estate Market shows a rise in home prices despite a decline in the number of homes sold.

Despite Hurricane Ike's rampage, the month of September brought Houston's overall housing market mixed results when considering all listing categories. Total property sales and total dollar volume fell, however average and median single-family home sales prices continued their steady increase on a year-over-year basis.

"Hurricane Ike effectively shut Houston's real estate business down for half of September," said Michael Levitin, HAR chairman and principal of HTownRealty.com. "Like other businesses, real estate agencies lost anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks due to power outages and damage caused by the storm, and thousands of property transactions were postponed so that sellers could make repairs. Ike did, however, help accelerate transactions involving rental properties as many people sought short-term housing."

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Key Points:

The following statistics compare the subject month with the same month of the previous year.

• Average single-family home price rose 4.4% for the month of September from $202,728 to $211,660
• Median single-family home price rose 5.0% for the month of September from $150,000 to $157,500
• Total home sales (all property types) fell 29.5% from 5,944 units sold to 4,189 units sold
• Total sales volume (all property types) fell 28.6.9% from 1.2B to $857Mil
• Total available active listings as of Aug 31st 2008 fell 6.6% to 50,155
• The month's inventory of single-family homes for September came in at 6.4 months, the lowest level since April of this year. That compares to the September 2007 single-family homes inventory of 6.3 months (6.0 months of inventory is considered an equilibrium market; higher indicates a buyer's market, while lower indicates a seller's market)

At $211,660, the average sales price for single-family homes reached the highest level recorded for a September in Houston, up 4.4 percent from the same period last year when it was $202,728. The overall median price of single-family homes in September was $157,500, also an all-time high for the month of September. That compares to the national single-family median price of $210,900 reported by the National Association of REALTORS. These data continue to demonstrate the higher value and lower cost of living that prevail in the Houston market.

Lease Property Update

Demand for single-family and townhouse/condominium rentals increased in September as a result of Hurricane Ike, as consumers sought short-term accommodations while initiating home repairs. Contractors, insurance adjusters and other professionals from outside the Houston area who are involved in Ike-related recovery projects were also part of that demand. Single-family home rentals rose 13.5 percent in September compared to a year earlier, while year-over-year townhouse/condominium rentals were up 17.5 percent.

Other Notables:

• Highest average single-family home sales price for a September ($211,660)
• Highest median single-family home sales price for a September ($157,500)
• Highest average townhouse/condominium sales price for a September ($162,401)
• Highest median townhouse/condominium sales price for a September ($127,500)

Icon Realty Group, LLC is an independent real estate brokerage servicing Suburban North Houston, including The Woodlands, Spring, Conroe, Magnolia, Tomball, Cypress, and the surrounding area. Primary services include residential home sales, leasing, investing, and property management. Read more about Icon Realty at our website http://www.houstonicon.com/

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Information obtained from the Houston Association of Realtors Monthly Market Press Release. Accuracy is not guaranteed, and is subject to change. For more information, see http://www.har.com.