Houston sees decline in April home sales
April home sales in Houston plunged more than 20 percent from year-ago levels as sellers took properties off the market and buyers stayed home through the coronavirus-induced shutdown, a housing economist said Tuesday, citing early estimates.
“It does look like buyers are anxious to buy, but they're just delaying it,” Jim Gaines, chief economist of the Texas A&M Real Estate Center, said during an online presentation to the Greater Houston Builders Association this week.
The decline, which is expected to be confirmed next week when the Houston Association of Realtors finalizes its monthly tally of sales of single-family homes, condominiums and townhomes, came as the region's real estate market was outpacing other Texas cities.
March single-family closings, which were up 8.2 percent yearover-year, may represent the last increase the area sees for a while.
Houston buyers closed on 1,923 homes last week, a 4.9 percent drop compared with the same period a year ago, HAR said Wednesday in a new weekly report on how the market is being affected by COVID-19.
Impacting the market are more stringent requirements from lenders.
JPMorgan, for example, said last month it would increase its minimum lending standards requiring borrowers to have at least 20 percent to put down and a credit score of at least
700.
Stay-home orders are making it difficult to show homes. The number of listings withdrawn from HAR’s Multiple Listing Service spiked by 39.4 percent last week to 1,727 properties.
Still, with mortgage rates at historic lows, housing could be a bright spot in the economic recovery, Gaines said. Low interest rates will stimulate demand, but only if the jobs come back and pent-up demand builds from consumers who are putting off buying until the pandemic subsides.