Is the Houston Market Starting to Balance Out?

The Katy real estate market has come alive! There is good news for both buyers and sellers, and I’m happy to report that we are in a balanced market.

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Real estate in the Katy area has come alive since the middle of January, and there is a lot of good news for buyers and sellers alike.

Interest rates have gone up about four or five times since the beginning of the year and are expected to continue to rise. While that’s not so great for buyers, the good news is that interest rates are still below 5%.

The number of home sellers continues to decline, and there is less pressure from other sellers in the market. We still have about three to four buyers for every seller on the market, so there is still pressure on home prices. You have to be competitive when you put your home out there on the market or it’s just not going to sell.

Some houses are getting multiple offers & selling above list price.

We are seeing some fluctuation in home prices. It’s getting to the point that whenever a seller puts a home on the market at a price point that the buyer agrees upon, we’re seeing multiple offers again. In some cases, homes are selling above list price, which is great since they were selling below list price for the last five or six months.

Ultimately, we have a balanced market right now. We are extremely excited about what’s happening in 2017, so if you have any questions about navigating our real estate market, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

What’s Happening in the South Katy Market?

What’s happening in the South Katy real estate market? I’ll go over all of the details today.

Looking to buy a home in the Houston area? Get full MLS access
Considering Selling your Houston area home? Get a market analysis of your home

Today I’m here with a snapshot of what’s going on in the South Katy area.

As of right now, there are 1,286 properties for sale and 342 of those are under contract. On a monthly basis, we’ve had anywhere from four to nine sellers for every buyer on the market; right now, we have four or five sellers for every buyer on the market.  

There is a decent number of buyers out there, but since there are so many sellers, home prices are being forced downward. Homes that are priced properly and marketed correctly should still sell between 14 and 21 days, though.

As for the rental market, there are 641 properties for lease; out of those, only 51 homes are currently under contract. We are approaching the point where there are 13 rental homes for every tenant in the market.

A lot of people are hoping to lease their properties right now so that they can wait and sell them when the market improves. Unfortunately, with these numbers, I think that lease prices will fall pretty dramatically. In fact, they may drop as much as 35% over the next year. Part of that is because of the 1,100 empty apartment units in the same area; new apartments are popping up all over the place.

The 77450 zip code is the healthiest market in Katy.

The good news is that interest rates are at historic lows, which is great for home buyers. We have never seen so many mortgage rates this low. As a result, a lot of people are moving out of apartments and buying homes, which further hurts the rental market. The people who came to the area during the petroleum bubble just aren’t there in big numbers anymore.

If you are in the 77450 zip code, that is a great area to be in. It’s just about built out, so there isn’t a lot of new construction in that area. The people in the petroleum industry who had bought property further out are now selling to move closer in; a lot of them are ending up in the 77450 zip code. In fact, this zip code has the healthiest market in Katy.

As many of you know, Westpark Tollway is still under construction, so the amount of traffic in Katy is crazy right now. That indicates that we still have a very robust economy here in Katy. There are also a lot of new companies like Dick’s Sporting Goods coming into the area, which shows that Katy is still growing.

If you have any further questions about what’s happening in our market, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!