Houston home sales continue to decline, but prices perk up

Houston Business Journal - by Allison Wollam Reporter

Residential property sales across Houston slid for the sixth consecutive month in February, but the decline was not as steep as January's dip in sales.

While February sales of single-family homes declined, the average price of those homes rose, according to statistics released by the Houston Association of Realtors .

Total February property sales registered 5,266, which represents a 13.1 percent drop compared to February 2007, but is an improvement over last month's 17.2 percent fall.

Properties sold during the month totaled just over $1 billion, compared to $1.1 billion in sales one year earlier, a 7.9 percent decline.

"Houston continues to feel the ripple effect of the national mortgage crisis," said Michael Levitin, HAR Chairman and principal of HTownRealty.com . "However, many area Realtors are actually reporting brisk sales, which supports our contention that real estate is local, meaning some parts of town are doing well and others not so well."

Indeed, improved year-over-year sales activity continued to be observed in Houston's low- and high-end single-family home markets, with increases of 11.1 percent among homes priced below $80,000 and 11 percent among homes priced above $500,000.

The average price of a single-family home rose 5.6 percent last month from February 2007 to $206,140, representing the biggest increase since last August.

The overall median price of a single-family home in February increased 3.1 percent to $151,430, compared to the national single-family median price of $201,100, according to statistics from the National Association of Realtors .

Additionally, total sales of single-family homes in Houston in February came in at 4,431, which was 10.2 percent lower than February 2007 but a slight improvement over last month's 12 percent decline.

Month-end pending sales reached 4,323, which was down 10.1 percent from last year and signals another likely decline in sales next month, according to HAR.