May 2004 Houston Real Estate Report

HOUSTON (June 16, 2004) – Houston’s property sales in May reached the highest number of sales ever recorded in a single month. According to the Houston Association of Realtors’® Multiple Listing Service, 6,482 Houston-area homes listed by Realtors® sold last month.

“May’s record-breaking volume of sales pumped more than $1.1 billion into Houston’s economy last month,” said HAR chairman elect Toni C. Nelson. “And with pending sales up almost 6 percent over this time last year, we can assume that next month also will be strong.”

Pending sales serve as the traditional indicator of listings scheduled to close within the next month.

Overall, Houston’s market showed an increase across the board including sales, available inventory, pending sales and total dollar volume.

May Market Comparison (all categories)
All Classes May
2003 May
2004 Percent Change
Total Property Sales 6,074 6,482 +6.7%
Total Dollar Volume $987 million $1.14 billion +15.7%
Active Listings 36,722 41,789 +13.8%
Pending Sales 4,066 4,307 +5.9%
Months Inventory 6.7 6.4 -4.5/%

High-Rise Market Sales Up

Houston’s high-rise market experienced a sales explosion during the month of May. Houston-area Realtors sold 71 high-rise properties last month, representing an increase of more than 120 percent when compared to this time last year. Realtors sold 32 high-rise properties during May 2003.

“The popularity of high-rise living in Houston is on the rise and with the recent opening of projects such as the Montebello, the sale of Houston’s high-rise homes more than doubled during May,” said Nelson.

There are currently 847 active listings in the high-rise category when compared to 556 listings on the market at this time last year.

Single-family Homes Update

Total sales for single-family homes increased 4.6 percent to 5,305 from last year’s 5,073. The median price of single-family homes grew to $138,000 in May, compared to $133,160 last May.

Houston Real Estate Milestones

Highest number of properties sold in a single month.
Highest number of properties on the market since November 1986.
* Months inventory estimates the number of months it will take to deplete current active inventory based on the prior twelve months sales activity. This figure is representative of the single-family homes market.

The computerized Multiple Listing Service of the Houston Association of Realtors includes residential properties and new homes listed by 18,000 Realtors throughout Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties, as well as parts of Brazoria, Galveston, Waller and Wharton counties. The Houston Association of Realtors is the largest trade association in Houston and the second largest local Realtor association in the nation. Residential home sales statistics as well as listing information for more than 40,000 listings can be found on the Internet at http://www.HAR.com.

The information published and disseminated to the HAR Multiple Listing Services is communicated verbatim, without change by Multiple Listing Services, as filed by MLS participants.
The MLS does not verify the information provided and disclaims any responsibility for its accuracy. All data is preliminary and subject to change. Monthly sales figures reported since November 1998 includes a statistical estimation to account for late entries. Twelve-month totals may vary from actual end-of-year figures. (Single-family detached homes were broken out separately in monthly figures beginning February 1988.)

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