• Prices have already risen 6.8% over the past three months, landing only 2.2% below the all-time high reached in June 2022. Additionally, the median list price per square foot hit an all-time high in April 2024.
• Mortgage rates rose nearly a half a percentage point in April due to changing Fed rate cut expectations, hitting the highest level yet in 2024. The Fed has expressed that inflation is taking longer to settle at 2% than originally expected, so higher rates will likely be here for most — if not all — of 2024.
• Sales fell 4.3% month over month, and inventory rose 4.7%. The combination of rising prices and interest rates priced buyers out of the market, which dropped sales.

Closing costs put under microscope

The compulsory purchase of insurance by a mortgage borrower to protect their lender from a loan default is under investigation, according to a report from the leading financial news agency, Bloomberg.

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Houston Area Market Data

Months of Supply Inventory fell over the past three months, indicating a shift back to a sellers’ market for single-family homes

Months of Supply Inventory (MSI) quantifies the supply/demand relationship by measuring how many months it would take for all current homes listed on the market to sell at the current rate of sales. The long-term average MSI is around four to five months in Texas, which indicates a balanced market. An MSI lower than four indicates that there are more buyers than sellers on the market (meaning it’s a sellers’ market), while an MSI higher than five indicates there are more sellers than buyers (meaning it’s a buyers’ market). MSI trended higher in the second half of 2023, indicating a shift in the market from favoring sellers for single-family homes and condos to a more balanced market. From February to April 2024, however, MSI fell significantly, indicating the housing market now favors sellers for single-family homes, is balanced for condos, and favors buyers for high-rise condos.

Featured Development for May