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Houston, TX - Latest Figures for New Home Sales Suggest Market Climb Losing Steam

Posted on: Feb 06, 2012 09:24:57 AM

Sales of new homes rose year-over-year in November in the Houston, TX market, but signs of market leveling were showing as the percentage boost was less than October 2011. New home sales saw a 14.5% hike from a year earlier to 1,565. In comparison, new home sales in the same month last year saw a 15.3% rise year-over-year in October.

A total of 16,900 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in November, up from 16,702 for the year that ended in October.

Of 7,867 total sales, 1,565 were of new homes. This marks a rise from 18.7% of total sales a year earlier. Sales of new and existing homes increased year-over-year in November following a decline in October year-over-year.

Pricing and Mortgage Trends

The average price of newly sold homes rose year-over-year 2.6% in November to $237,843 per unit. This rise is better than the 1.2% rise in October year-over-year.

Average mortgage size on new homes fell year-over-year in contrast to new home prices. Average mortgage size dipped by 1.7% from a year earlier, settling at $232,026 in November. Average mortgage size went from $230,427 in October 2010 to $230,100 in October 2011.

Other Market Trends

There has not been much movement in the composition of the market with regard of the types of properties sold. From a year ago, single-family home sales have moved from 98.5% of new home sales to 98.7% of sales while attached units have gone from 1.5% of sales to 1.3% of sales.

For all new homes sold, the average unit size slipped 7.2% year-over-year to 2,525 square feet in November 2011. For newly sold homes, an average size decline contrasting with an average price rise was also seen in October 2011 when the average size of newly sold homes declined 1.9% to 2,681 square feet.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) sales stayed a drag on the market. Out of all existing home sales, foreclosures combined with REO sales made up 36.8% of sales. They represented 44.5% in November 2010. The percentage of existing home sales involving foreclosures rose to 23.2% in November from 20.1% a year earlier while REO sales as a percentage of existing home sales declined to 13.7% from 24.4% a year earlier.

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