Houston luxury market leads resi revival

February has set up a promising lead-in to the spring home-buying season, with the luxury segment leading the pack on a general upward trend in sales and an expansion of inventory holding the potential to build momentum.

According to the Houston Association of Realtor’s February report, single-family homes increased nearly eight percent compared to their performance the same month last year.  

The result marks only the third monthly increase witnessed over the past 12 months–the most recent being an upswing of about five percent in November. Meanwhile, the supply of homes climbed from an average of 2.5 months supply to 3.4 months supply. The National Association of Realtors estimates a 3-month supply as ideal for a typical market. 

Greater Houston’s high-end market, defined by homes priced at $1 million and above, saw the largest gain in sales with a 48 percent upswing in February year-over-year. The city’s luxury segment recorded a 33 percent decline in February 2023. 

Some of the key sales last month include Douglas Elliman’s Gigi Huang’s closing on an 11,000-square-foot estate in the Memorial Villages listed at $5 million at 11719 Wood Lane, the most expensive on-market listing closed in February, according to HAR. 

March is already set to be a promising month. Nancy Almodovar of Nan and Co. represented the buyer of the city’s second priciest on-market home sale ever, according to HAR, with a $20 million River Oaks mansion owned by Hines founder Gerald D. Hines at 2920 Lazy Lane Boulevard. Douglas Elliman’s Mark Menendez represented the seller. Houston’s luxury market is on the up and up. 

“With pent-up demand, consumers appear to finally be pushing aside interest rate concerns and returning to the market, which bodes well for the spring homebuying season,” said Thomas Mouton, Chair of HAR, in a press release statement. 

Indeed, a Compass report found home sales in Bayou City exceeding the $10 million price point surged by 75 percent last year. 

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Following closely behind the million-dollar-plus sub-segment were  homes priced between $500,000 and $1 million, which notched an18 percent increase year-over-year. Almost every other price range saw  more modest increases in sales last month, according to the report. 

Only homes priced between $150,000 to $250,000 experienced marginal declines last month highlighting the city’s affordability conundrum. Single-family home price increases combined with interest rate hikes have begun pricing some lower-income buyers out of the market. The average price of a single-family home throughout Greater Houston rose by over four percent to $400,250, with the median price witnessing a three percent uptick to $329,670.