(Houston Chronicle) 4/20/2010 After declining for three straight months, Houston area home sales climbed in March.
Realtors sold 4,832 single-family homes in the area last month, according to a monthly report from the Houston Association of Realtors.
That’s up 11 percent from the same period last year.
Realtors credit the spring selling season, a looming deadline for a federal homebuying tax credit and a growing optimism about the economy.
The tax credit has the greatest impact on home priced at $250,000 and higher, said Margie Dorrance, the real estate agent association’s chair.
“The credit is going to run out April 30, and houses need to be under contract by then,” Dorrance said. “That is having a bearing on sales and very substantially.”
During this time last year, lower priced homes sold better and activity in the $200,000 to $250,000 price range was slower. This year, it seems to be the opposite.
New listings of single-family homes jumped 34 percent to 11,399 in March, compared to 8,528 during the same month last year.
Home prices continued to climb for the 11th straight month on a year over year basis, boosted in part by the sale of luxury homes.
The number of homes that sold for $500,000 or more were up about 50 percent.
Every price segment was up except for the lowest end of the market, which saw an 8.4 percent decline.
The gains helped boost the median price of a single-family home to $154,250, up 6.4 percent over the year earlier.
Homes also seem to be selling faster than this time last year. Homes stayed on the market an average 79 days, down from 95 days a year ago.
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Carl Wallingford has written 26 articles on Network Funding LP
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