Texas Home Sales Continue To Grow While Housing Inventory Increases In The First Quarter

AUSTIN – The number of homes sold across Texas continued to rise and median price moderately increased during the first quarter of 2019, according to the 2019-Q1 Texas Quarterly Housing Reportreleased today by Texas Realtors.

“Housing market activity in Texas continues to break records,” said Tray Bates, chairman of Texas Realtors. “The number of sales and median price aren’t going up as steeply as in recent years, but Texas real estate remains in high demand as the Lone Star State continues to be a popular place to live and do business.”

During the first quarter of this year, 70,827 homes were sold in Texas, an increase of 0.7% compared to the first quarter of 2018. Statewide, the median price increased 2.7% to $230,000.

Of all the homes sold in the first quarter in 2019, 32% were priced from $200,000 to $299,999, the highest share of sales among all price-class distributions. Homes priced from $100,000 to $199,999 represented the second-highest share of sales with 30.5%.

Jim Gaines, Ph.D., chief economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, commented, “Sales activity rebounded in March from negative showings in January and February as lower interest rates and winter’s colder weather diminished to increase buyer spirits. During the first quarter, sales increased by around 1% across the state with notable gains in sales volume in March in the major markets. The median price also continued to rise, but at a substantially slower rate. Furthermore, listings finally showed signs of growth with a corresponding rise in months inventory, but it’s still a tight market overall.”

Active listings jumped 14% from a year ago to 104,620 listings in the first quarter of 2019. Texas homes spent an average of 68 days on the market during the same time frame, one day more than the first quarter of 2018.

Housing inventory in Texas also increased 0.4 months from 2018-Q1 to 3.6 months of inventory. According to the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, a market balanced between supply and demand has between 6.0 and 6.5 months of inventory.

Chairman Bates concluded, “We’re encouraged by the increase of housing inventory statewide. The Texas economy has primed itself for continued increases in home sales activity throughout the year, setting the state up for another strong summer selling season ahead.”

Data for the Texas Quarterly Housing Report is provided by the Data Relevance Project, a partnership among local REALTOR® associations and their MLSs, and Texas REALTORS®, with analysis by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M. The report provides quarterly real estate sales data for Texas and 25 metropolitan statistical areas in Texas. The Texas Real Estate Year-in-Review Report in February and the Texas Real Estate Mid-Year Report in August are released in lieu of the Q2 and Q4 reports each year.

With more than 125,000 members, Texas REALTORS® is a professional membership organization that represents all aspects of real estate in Texas. We are the advocate for REALTORS® and private property rights in Texas.

Visit texasrealestate.com to learn more.