Hopping values
The area was among Texas’ top gainers in home appreciation in the first quarter.
Home prices in Houston, which mirrored the nation’s annual home price appreciation of 6.9 percent in the first quarter, rose at a faster clip than most other Texas metros, the National Association of Realtors reported this past week.
The nation registered the strongest quarterly sales in a decade, pushing prices higher in 85 percent of the 178 metro tracked by NAR. The national median home price rose to $232,100 from $217,200 in the first quarter of 2016. In the Houston metro area in the first quarter of 2017, the median price shot up 6.9 percent to $222,300.
Ongoing supply shortages contributed to price gains in many markets across the country, according to NAR’s quarterly report.
“Prospective buyers poured into the market to start the year, and while their increased presence led to a boost in sales, new listings failed to keep up and hovered around record lows all quarter,” Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said in an announcement. “Those able to successfully buy most likely had to outbid others — especially for those in the starter-home market — which in turn quickened price growth to the fastest quarterly pace in almost two years.”
In Texas, among 11 metros tracked, only Dallas and Sherman showed higher rates of appreciation in the first quarter than Houston.
Austin had the most expensive homes, with a median price of $286,400 (up 6.2 percent), followed by Dallas at $236,500 (up 12.6 percent) and Houston.
Dallas was among 30 metros nationally with double-digit gains. Prices shot up most in Cumberland, Md./W.Va., and in Florida’s Sebastian-Vero Beach and Ocala.
The nation’s most expensive housing markets: San Jose, Calif., $1,070,000; San Francisco, $815,000; Anaheim-Santa Ana, Calif. $750,000; Honolulu, $746,000; and San Diego, $564,000. The lowest priced homes were in Youngstown, Ohio, $79,200.
Overall, the supply of homes for sale fell by 6.6 percent to 1.83 million in the first quarter, the national real estate group said. The supply averaged 3.7 months during the first quarter, down from 4.2 million in the first quarter last year.
In Houston, the supply of homes on the market reached 4 months in April, up from 3.6 months the previous year, according to the Houston Association of Realtors.
In the fourth quarter of 2016, Houston set a quarterly record of $224,500, NAR found.
Prices usually dip on a quarterly basis in the first quarter because most of the larger homes geared for families sell during the busy spring and summer months right up until school starts, NAR spokesman Adam DeSanctis said.