Houston real estate had started to feel the impact of the downturn within the energy sector, caused by declining oil costs and a large influx of corporate layoffs. However, the housing market continued to show resilience.
According to a recent MLS report by the Houston Association of Realtors, the Houston market was stable in February, with property sales up 2.2 percent in the same month a year ago. Meanwhile, new listings had come on the market, which had increased the inventory of available homes to a 3.4-month supply. This was good news for relocation buyers, since more inventory meant more choices, according to a feature from Chron.
Houston real estate professionals found that, visualizing a realistic picture of the Houston real estate market for their home buyer relocations had become challenging. However, while job loss weakened the healthy real estate market, it was not the case for the rest.
Stewart Title chief economist Ted C. Jones stated during a recent interview that his tagline for what is happening in Houston was that it was the "best oil downturn that Houston had ever experienced". He even added that it was necessary to present the statistics and data that accurately depicted the effect that the oil downturn was having on the Houston economy. Jones also emphasized that this information was also used in analyzing the market with the use of historical data from previous downturns.
In general, Jones stated that this downturn did not have the same effect as those that were devastating to Houston in previous years.
Houston real estate had a different type of economy, and how long the economy will last will depend on how quick oil and gas will turn. The petrochemical industry was floating, but the jobs at the petrochemical plant were long-term jobs, according to a feature from Har.com.
