Single-family home sales in 2020 surpassed 2019’s volume by more than 10%, even as the supply of homes reached its lowest level in history by year’s end with a 1.9-month supply, according to an annual report from the Houston Association of Realtors. A six-month supply has traditionally been considered a balanced market.
Sales did plummet in April and May 2020 as stay-at-home orders temporarily halted real estate activity, but sales picked up when real estate resumed after it was deemed an essential service.
“When the coronavirus pandemic struck, we expected the real estate business to hit a brick wall and never fathomed the possibility of 2020 becoming a record year for the Houston market,” said HAR Chair Richard Miranda with Keller Williams Platinum in a Jan. 13 news release. “HAR worked closely with elected officials to secure the ‘essential service’ designation for real estate, which cleared the way for our hard-working Realtor members to help consumers find the homes they needed.”
In fact, July 2020 went down as Houston’s greatest one-month sales volume of all time with 10,815 single-family units sold.
Meanwhile, single-family home sales rose to 96,151 in 2020, up from 86,996 the year prior. Year over year, the single-family median sales price rose to $260,000 in 2020, a 6.12% increase from $245,000 in 2019.
In December, single-family home sales were up 25% year over year with 9,652 units sold, and the median sales price rose nearly 9% to $273,443, the highest ever.
