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Home sales in Southeast Texas are down, average cost of homes are up 9.5 percent

If you are looking to sell a home, Texas Realtors says this is the time.

BEAUMONT, Texas — The housing market in Southeast Texas is down though prices on sold homes are going up.

According to Texas Realtors first quarter report, home sales in the area are down two percent.

Katrina Wright, President of Beaumont Board of Texas Realtors, believes the weather may have been an issue and not as many homes were shown to potential buyers.

The prices are up 9.5 percent for the homes that have been sold.

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Single family homes are selling on average at around $150,500.

Wright says homes that are priced under $150,000 are selling quickly.

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With plant expansions and jobs moving into Southeast Texas, Wright is confident those numbers in homes sold will increase.

"I think you are going to see homes going on the market for those employees they are moving," Wright said. "And I think you are going to see an influx of people coming in for the expansion projects."

The average time a home is on the market is 88 days.

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The real estate market was hit pretty hard after Harvey. Now, those homes are being repaired and back on the market, which can mean the second quarter of homes sold is looking promising.

"We are still going through the remnants of Harvey homes. I think investors have bought up quite a bit of them and a big spike is that the homes are back on the market now that they have repaired them."

Texas Realtors first quarter report for Beaumont/Port Arthur

Today, Texas Realtors released the Texas Quarterly Housing Report for the first quarter of 2019. 

Compared to the same quarter last year, Beaumont-Port Arthur home sales decreased 2 percent to 828 single-family home sales, while median price increased 9.5 percent to $150,500.

Statewide, Texas home sales increased 0.7 percent year-over-year to 70,827 home sales, while housing inventory increased to 3.6 months, a 0.4 months increase from 2018-Q1. 

Texas Realtors full first quarter report

May 6, 2019 – AUSTIN, Texas – The number of homes sold across Texas continued to rise and median price moderately increased during the first quarter of 2019, according to the 2019-Q1 Texas Quarterly Housing Report released today by Texas Realtors. 

"Housing market activity in Texas continues to break records," said Tray Bates, chairman of Texas Realtors. "The number of sales and median price aren't going up as steeply as in recent years, but Texas real estate remains in high demand as the Lone Star State continues to be a popular place to live and do business." 

During the first quarter of this year, 70,827 homes were sold in Texas, an increase of 0.7% compared to the first quarter of 2018. Statewide, the median price increased 2.7% to $230,000. Of all the homes sold in the first quarter in 2019, 32% were priced from $200,000 to $299,999, the highest share of sales among all price-class distributions. Homes priced from $100,000 to $199,999 represented the second-highest share of sales with 30.5%.

Jim Gaines, Ph.D., chief economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, commented, "Sales activity rebounded in March from negative showings in January and February as lower interest rates and winter's colder weather diminished to increase buyer spirits. During the first quarter, sales increased by around 1% across the state with notable gains in sales volume in March in the major markets. The median price also continued to rise, but at a substantially slower rate. Furthermore, listings finally showed signs of growth with a corresponding rise in months inventory, but it's still a tight market overall."

Active listings jumped 14% from a year ago to 104,620 listings in the first quarter of 2019. Texas homes spent an average of 68 days on the market during the same time frame, one day more than the first quarter of 2018.

Housing inventory in Texas also increased 0.4 months from 2018-Q1 to 3.6 months of inventory. According to the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, a market balanced between supply and demand has between 6.0 and 6.5 months of inventory.

Chairman Bates concluded, "We're encouraged by the increase of housing inventory statewide. The Texas economy has primed itself for continued increases in home sales activity throughout the year, setting the state up for another strong summer selling season ahead."

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