All summer the news continued to report that home sales were hot and that every housing market across the United States was seeing multiple offers, with many above the asking price, and while the temperatures continued to soar, suddenly the housing market cooled.
 
I do not usually gauge Houston’s market against the rest of the United States, but in this case, I noticed more articles about the housing market cooling, so I was curious. What caused this abrupt cooling? Then I remembered that the market tends to cool around the middle of July to August as everyone goes on vacation in the heat of the summer….and people are vacationing in record numbers this year!
 
I am by no means saying that it is a Buyer’s market, but we have seen home sales slow in the last 30 days while inventory levels steadily increase in every market, including Katy, which now has over 350 homes on the market, a 75% increase.
 
So what happens now? Just this weekend, the Energy Realty team saw a surge in showings and Open House visitors again, so the timing may be right again for home sales to resume the fast pace we saw in the first half of the year. With the Delta variance on the horizon, people are returning from vacation and getting kids ready for school again.
 
Typically, home sales pick up again towards the end of August or after Labor Day weekend, so stay tuned for a second wave of buyers hitting the market this fall. If you just listed your home in the last 30 days, don’t jump ship yet—it is still a good time to sell a home, and as long as some big event doesn’t change the direction, we should stay in a seller’s market for another 1-2 years.

By: Sherry Campbell