Along with several individual honorees, the Houston Association of Realtors took home a group prize for the most innovative real estate program of the year for their "H-Town Day" in 2010, the Texas Association of Realtors announced today.
The group's chairman, Dwight Hale, said the awards were an opportunity to celebrate real estate professionals who have contributed to the advancement of the industry in Texas.
"This event is a celebration of the past year's achievements and a chance to honor all those who have devoted their time, energy and efforts to enhancing our industry," he said.
In addition to the innovation award, three Houston Realtors were inducted into the national parent organization's Omega Tau Rho fraternity, founded to recognize excellence in the profession. They were Mario Arriaga, Danny Frank, and Chaille Ralph. Chairman Hale was also received into the fraternity, the group noted.
With numerous top-level professionals operating in the area, it's no wonder the future looks reasonably bright for the Houston property market. Several recent studies have demonstrated the potential for strong growth and recovery from the housing crash.
Houston Realtors take home awards from 2010 recognition event
Further evidence of sunnier days ahead for Houston real estate with green building announcement
A firm of green home builders will showcase eight new models of eco-friendly housing in a large-scale open house event on March 5 and 6, GreenEco Builders announced today.
The company's sales manager, Wayne Green, said the company was focused on building its homes the right way.
"GreenEco's success is a result of our commitment to providing the highest quality of construction, and features for the best value, rather than the lowest price," he said.
The company also announced that, in addition to the environmentally friendly features present on all of its homes, prospective homebuyers were being offered assistance with down payments and closing costs, credit repair help, and mortgage tax credit certificates.
Experts say the news of these new green developments comes on the heels of the news that Houston home prices had increased for the first time in seven months as of January. This could mean that the time to get into the market could be right now, if the upward pricing trends continue.
Study finds home sellers cutting asking prices nationwide
Houston properties were not among those listed in ZipRealty's latest report on home prices, but several other well-populated areas were unlucky enough to receive special mention from that company for seeing the biggest drops in home asking prices.
San Francisco took the cake for biggest whole-dollar average price reduction, as the average reduced-price sale in that city had $32,500 chopped from its value, ZipRealty said.
The company's director of marketing, John Oldham, said the general price downturn was widespread and that many of the cuts were significant.
"In more than half of the surveyed markets, sellers are averaging at least two reductions in price. Inventory has grown throughout much of the year; as sellers face the pressure of more buying options, they seem to be discounting to attract buyers resulting in list prices being cut for over 46 percent of the homes," he said.
Cutting the price on a home one is trying to sell is a big step, experts say, adding that a consultation with real estate professionals before doing this is probably a good idea.
Survey: Nearly three in four Americans want to own their home
Home ownership is a part of the American dream for almost three quarters of the respondents to a recent Trulia poll, the company announced recently.
The poll, conducted by Harris Interactive on Trulia's behalf, found that 70 percent of Americans felt that their personal concept of the American dream included owning their own house, and 78 percent of those who already own their dwellings say they are the best investments they've ever made.
Trulia says that one of the most significant findings of its study is the apparent centrality of Millennials to the upturn in the housing market, with almost nine out of 10 renters between the ages of 18 and 34 saying they were interested in owning their own homes.
Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Trulia's head of consumer education, said the trend was encouraging.
"Unjaded and largely untouched by the effects of the housing crash, this new generation of buyers will no doubt lead America from its current housing slump towards true recovery," she said.
Different areas will no doubt recover at varying speeds, experts point out, as Houston condos – for example – will be sold far differently than rural Texas ranch houses.
New Year brings good news for Houston real estate
Statistics tracked by the Houston Association of Realtors rose almost across the board in January 2011, as signs of the recovery's continued health continued to appear, the group said in a statement.
The city saw its first monthly increase in property sales since June 2010, according to HAR's report, and the average price of a single-family home hit its highest January level on record, driven primarily by strong numbers in the luxury housing market. However, the group also noted that surges in volume were seen among all home price levels, from a 26.3 percent rise for homes below $80,000, smaller but still notable gains for those between $80,000 and $500,000, and a 17.6 percent spike for those in the $500,000-and-up range.
HAR chairman Carlos Bujosa said the study should give Realtors in the area reason for cautious optimism, since it appears that the market may be continuing to move back toward where it was before the housing crash.
"Houston's residential real estate market has definitely gotten the new year off to a healthy start. Housing inventory appears to be balancing out, but the economy as a whole remains somewhat fragile, so I believe we need to see how home sales perform in the next month or two before being able to accurately predict what 2011 has in store for us," he said.
Year-over-year, the statistics were also strong, HAR said, as single-family home sales were 7.5 percent higher in January 2011 than in the same month of 2010. The mean average home price also rose over the course of 2010, according to HAR, up 2.2 percent to $196,879.
The increase in home purchase volumes seen in January 2011, the group notes, is the first that cannot be directly attributed to the effects of the federal government's tax breaks for homebuyers, instituted in the hopes of stimulating the troubled housing market. Those ended at the same time as the last monthly gain.
The median cost of a single-family home in Houston was $139,000, well below the national median of $169,300. This indicates that costs of living in the area are lower than average and that homebuyers in Houston may be able to get more bang for their buck than in other places, HAR said.
Report: Mortgage rates rising in many categories
Statistics released recently by government-backed mortgage giant Freddie Mac indicate that rates for home loans are steadily increasing across the board, indicating a possible revival of the market.
The average rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages spiked from 4.81 percent at the beginning of February to 5.05 percent ten days in, according to Freddie Mac. The current rate is also higher than the same measurement taken a year ago, the company adds.
The rates, according to Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft, are the highest they have been since last April.
"Long-term bond yields jumped on positive economic data reports, which placed upward pressure on mortgage rates this week. For all of 2010, nonfarm productivity rose 3.6 percent, the most since 2002, while January's unemployment rate unexpectedly fell from 9.4 percent to 9 percent. Moreover, the service industry expanded in January at the fastest pace since August 2005," he said, detailing some of the reasons behind the change.
Houston real estate, like property around the country, could command increased prices despite still-strong sales, experts say.
Home prices in America changing, but general trend is good
Several years after the onset of the economic downturn prompted by a housing crash, that market sector may be in the process of recovering value, according to a study from analysis firm CoreLogic.
That company's state-by-state data show that Idaho homes are losing value more quickly than the rest of the nation, down more than 10 percent in 2010 even without taking distressed home sales into account. On the other end of the spectrum, Hawaii posted a 6.15 percent gain in value according to the same metric, though North Dakota takes the top spot if distressed sales are included.
For Houston homes, the news from CoreLogic is generally good, as single-family home prices saw a minor upward shift of 1.8 percent including distressed sales, or 0.51 percent if they were excluded.
The company said that the national trend, despite the wide variation, evened out almost completely, though this does mark a halt to the sliding values that have been seen in recent years. Keeping track of variations by area could let astute homeowners get a better deal than they may have otherwise.
Houston wage growth tops nationwide
The Houston real estate market may get a renewed boost this year, as workers in the area are earning more, which could give them the financial flexibility to purchase a home.
Data from the Department of Labor shows that during 2010, the cost of overall wages and salaries in the Houston-Baytown-Huntsville metro area grew by 3.4 percent, while total compensation grew by 3.1 percent.
Both of those numbers were above the national average, and the growth of wages and salaries in the region was the most of any of the 15 metro areas included in the national report. By contrast, salaries in Dallas – the second-best in the South region – grew just 2.5 percent over the same time period, while wages in Miami grew by just 0.1 percent.
For many Houston residents, buying a home may be much more affordable than continuing to rent. A recent analysis by the website Trulia found that it would cost just 13 years' rent in the city to buy a median-priced home – making Houston homes some of the most affordable in the country when compared to renting.
Houston home prices continue climb as national market turns
A report from Clear Capital (http://www NULL.clearcapital NULL.com/company/MarketReport NULL.cfm?month=February&year=2011) finds that home prices in the Houston real estate market have continued to climb while the national market may also be beginning to turn.
According to the report, home values in Houston have risen 1.7 percent over the three-month period ending in January and 5.6 percent over the previous 12. The quarterly price gain was the ninth-best in any city nationwide.
At the same time, national home prices dropped 1.6 percent over the quarter. But economists say they saw an uptick in prices during the final months of January.
"This recent national change in price direction is encouraging for the overall housing sector, yet it is still too early to determine whether this current uptick in home prices is a temporary reprieve or the start of a sustained recovery," said Dr. Alex Villacorta, senior statistician at Clear Capital.
Even if prices start to gain ground, they still have a long way until the equity lost in the recession is earned back. According to the Case-Shiller home price index, home prices in November were 30 percent below their peak levels.
Report: Houston home prices to slip
While prices in the Houston real estate market have remained relatively level, a report from Fiserv (http://investors NULL.fiserv NULL.com/releasedetail NULL.cfm?ReleaseID=546740) says that the median home price will slide slightly in the early part of this year.
According to an analysis of data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the firm says that the local median home price will drop 0.5 percent from the third quarter of last year through the third quarter of this year. However, in the year following that, prices should rebound and gain 1.4 percent.
On a national level, the firm says that home prices should stabilize in 75 percent of cities by the end of this year, and everywhere by the end of 2012.
However, the report added that despite affordable homebuying conditions across much of the country, tight lending standards from banks would dilute some of that impact.
Buyers will need a decent credit score just to be approved for a loan. According to a report last year from Zillow.com, borrowers with credit scores below 620 were unlikely to be approved for a loan, even if they had a larger down payment.
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