Houston - Is the market going soft?

[Michael Delpier]

Houston, Do we have a problem?

I'm wondering if the market is softening in Houston Texas.

Fair warning: I'm new to analyzing. And my information is from realtors web sites. (not raw data) But the data is reported to come from the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR)

SFH supply is 2.8 months, (2014 = 2.9 months)

DOM increased 7-days YOY

Median listing price is up 7%, but median sales price is not. (med sales - 2014 = $214K, 2015 = $208K)

Typically, Houston listings/sales ramp up in spring for the summer selling season. I don't see this happening yet. (active listings at 28K down almost 2K from 2014) My thought is people wont sell if they can't buy.

This does not seem like much, but given the market was heading up like a NASA rocket, this seems like a stumble. People are still buying, but not at the same enthusiasm as last year.

Another possible cause of the slight difference is the big investment companies have slowed their buying in Houston. This is completely hear say from a mid level employee of one of the investment companies.

Building new is currently cheaper than buying old. This is very significant in Houston as new is seen as very good. There are thousands of homes being built in west Houston.

So what does this all mean? I'm wondering if the Houston market has met it's tolerance, or is this a temporary issue due to the low price of oil.

Comments?