Foreclosures balanced by new home sales in Houston

Both home buyers and home builders took advantage of the federal tax credit in the second quarter of 2010. This helped out the housing market in Houston which is still reeling from the thousands of foreclosures that have caused the decline of property values in the last couple of years.

With buyers and builder taking the advantage of federal tax credit – meaning nearly $8,000 – the Houston housing market registered a 20% jump in the second quarter of 2010. Despite the presence of a big number of foreclosed properties, such as JP Morgan Chase homes, new homes held their own prices for the third consecutive quarter, a Metrostudy report reveals. The residential consulting firm also reported a rise in residential property closings during the second quarter.

The April 30 deadline for the tax credit was an important milestone regarding new dwellings and home foreclosures. The sales suddenly drop after this deadline, though activity in the new home market, especially among single family homes have picked up lately.

The impact of foreclosures can still be felt in the smaller townhouse sector. Home starts in this category declined by 16% compared to past year, according to the Metrostudy report. Despite this decline, inventory levels for townhouses remain lower this year than the previous year.

Although the townhouses’ price dropped these year, the good news is that single family dwellings’ price didn’t decline as much. The foreclosure issue remains a very serious one in Houston, but single family houses’ prices remain almost the same, there is no drastic decline but no rising also.

Posted by Istvan Fekete on Aug 9 2010. Filed under Housing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.