Despite a decrease in sales, existing homes in Texas still managed to retain their value in the first quarter, according to the latest report from the state's Realtors group.
The number of houses which changed hands in the Lone Star State fell 7.3% to 40,192 units, the Texas Association of Realtors reported. But the median price of those sales rose 1.3%, to $143,300.
"While Texas has not been untouched by the recent economic downturn as indicated by the decrease in sales, it is encouraging to see home prices hold their value in the first quarter," said TAR Chairman Dwight Hale.
Jim Gaines, an economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, noted that the first quarter-to-quarter comparison covered some of "the most heavily government-stimulated months" ever, a period when the federal home buyer tax credit was still in force.
"While we expected sales to be down given this anomaly, we expected the decrease in the sales volume to be much greater, suggesting that the market is performing well despite the absence of tax credits," Gaines said.
Although the inventory of unsold homes has risen from a 6.8 months' supply at the end of last year's first quarter to 7.5 months at the end of March, Gaines had this to say: "Texas is still performing considerably better than other states in terms of maintaining balance between home inventory and demand. Combined with the fact that Texas has maintained strong property values, this indicates that the market is absorbing foreclosed and other distressed properties without experiencing harmful excess supply."
