The decline in single-family homes from 9,918 sales in August 2021 to 8,241 sales in August 2022 is a 16.9% year-over-year decrease in new home purchases.
The dwindling buyers market has led to a significant boost in the single-family home month's inventory—a measure estimating the total number of months the housing market would take to deplete without replenishing stock—to 2.5 months, the highest level in two years, according to HAR officials.
“For the past two years, Houston housing has been like a runaway train, and what we’ve been seeing most recently is an engineer, finally at the throttle, applying the brakes so the train can pull safely into the next station," HAR Chair Jennifer Wauhob said in a statement.
Inflationary prices and rising interest rates led consumers to pivot toward the rental market as the median single-family price rose 10.8% year over year, according to HAR officials. While the median single-family home value did increase over last August, the price fell from $348,740 in July to $341,950 in August.
Townhouses and condominiums saw a 14.9% year-over-year decrease in new sales as median prices rose to $217,000.
