The Houston region saw more homes hit the market in April, boosting inventory and providing additional options to eager Houstonians, a new report shows.
People who put off buying or selling when oil prices were in free fall are regaining the confidence to move up into bigger or newer homes, said John Leggett, CEO of On Point Custom Homes. As they do, they're putting their existing homes up for sale, boosting supply for the midrange buyer.
"There's been just a huge confidence shift in the last 12 months," said Leggett, whose company builds new homes in Memorial, Tanglewood and other upscale, urban neighborhoods.
Leggett said he's seen about a dozen recent examples of "step-up" buyers encouraged by stabilizing oil prices and a steadying job market.
"Their bonuses were good. Their stock prices improved. They weren't worried about their jobs or the possibly of having to move to a different market," he said.
New listings lifted inventory levels to a 4-month supply in April, up from a 3.6-month supply a year ago, the Houston Association of Realtors said Wednesday in a monthly report. That's the highest inventory has been since last August.
"As we had hoped, inventory levels got a healthy boost," HAR chair Cindy Hamann said in a statement. "The latest Texas Workforce Commission employment update states that 13,300 jobs were created throughout greater Houston in March, the most since September 2015, so we remain optimistic about the local economy."
April also saw a boost in single-family home sales and prices.
Buyers closed on 6,583 homes last month, a 3.1 percent increase over the same period last year, at a median price of $228,000, a 4.6 percent increase over April 2016, the association said.
The high end of the market — sales of homes priced $750,000 and up — saw a 15.8 percent increase in sales in April over the same period a year ago.
April marked the sixth straight month of rising sales in the luxury market, according to the association, whose data is based on property sales handled through the Multiple Listing Service throughout primarily Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties.
The bulk of the homes that sold last month were in the $150,000 to $500,000 range.
Realtor Shad Bogany said houses in good condition that show well are selling quickly.
A house he listed recently in the Northshore subdivision near Lake Houston had several contracts after just two days.
"The home look like a model home and I think that was the key," he said.
Townhome and condominium sales were also up in April, with 599 units selling, representing an increase of 3.8 percent from 2016. The median price was 8.5 percent to $171,500. Inventory increased to 4.1 months.
