NOVEMBER 2023 HOUSTON REAL ESTATE MARKET REPORT (December 13, 2023) — Just in time for the holidays, the Houston real estate market received a gift in November in the form of positive sales for the first time in 19 months. There are even more healthy indicators layered throughout the latest housing market report as 2023 draws to a close.

According to the Houston Association of Realtors’ (HAR) November 2023 Market Update, single-family home sales across Greater Houston rose 4.9 percent, the first increase since March 2022. Compared to pre-pandemic November 2019, when volume totaled 6,359, home sales were down 3.2 percent.

Only homes priced below $150,000 saw declines during the month. That segment comprises just 3.5 percent of the overall market and is due in large part to a lack of available inventory. The best performing segment consisted of homes priced between $250,000 and $500,000, which rose 8.0 percent year-over-year. That segment is the largest, comprising 59.8 percent of the market.  

The average price of a single-family home throughout Greater Houston edged up 1.0 percent to $404,597 while the median price notched downward 1.2 percent to $326,000. Those figures are well below the record highs of $438,350 (average) in May 2022 and $354,000 (median) in June 2022.  

Months of inventory expanded to 3.5 months from a 2.8-months supply last November. It is the greatest supply of homes since November 2019. A 4.0- to 6.0-month supply is generally considered a “balanced market” in which neither buyer nor seller has an advantage. Given the upward trend it is reasonable to say the Houston area is in a balanced market.

Overall our march toward a more "historically normal" market is in full swing.