The biggest share is held by nonresidential permits compared to residential permits, which by the way are up 53.5% from $57.3 million reported in January 2011 to $88 million last month.

On the other hand, nonresidential permits increased 80.7% from $148.4 million reported a year ago to $268.2 million last month.

The report highlights that the one year total for building permits is up for the eighth consecutive month and is at its highest level since October 2009.

And there is more: between the January 2011 and January 2012 period, city building permits totaled $3.8 billion, which brings a 20.4% increase over the $3.2 billion in permits issued during the 12 months ending January 2011.

The property is located right across The Galleria, and the new tenant comes after the Woodland-based Black Forest Ventures LLC, the owner of the 71,000 square-feet building has given up hope to secure a new lease for the ultra fancy building.

Construction will began immediately, and a local office of Austin-based Keller Williams will occupy the space this June, Haydar Kustu, a Black Forest spokesman reported to the Houston Business Journal.

Black Forest removed the Stanford Financial sign from the front of the building on Jan. 20, as the Houston businessman is facing charges for allegedly orchestrating a $7 billion Ponzi scheme.

The commercial real estate is adjacent to the Intercontinental Hotel on Loop 610 in the Galleria area and it is now 87% leased to tenants including Morgan Stanley and Tenaris.

The property was built in 1974 and given a face lift in 2000.

KBS Real Estate Investment Trust, which is part Newport Beach, Calif.-based KBS Realty Advisors, was represented in the transaction by Dan Miller and Marty Hogan with Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP.

The company once retained the title as the largest furniture chain in Texas, but those days are gone now. After several months of fighting for survival, the Dallas-based retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December last year, and it announced its plans to close all 14 stores across the state of Texas, which obviously includes all of the Houston stores.

The liquidation sale was scheduled to take place on February 9, when RoomStore sold the entire inventory of its five Houston stores.

As the Houston Business Journal reported, the stores were closed from February 7 to 8 to prepare for the sale.

The liquidation was put online too, you can find it RoomstoreHouston.com.

The Houston-area locations participating in the massive inventory sell-off sales include:

Stafford—12626 Fountain Lake Circle (281) 491-6100.

Webster—20750 Gulf Freeway (281) 557-8333.

Humble—19300 Highway 59 North Ste. B1 (281) 446-6595

Spring—25415 IH-45 North, Suite A (281) 419-0087

Houston—Store and Clearance Center—1009 Brittmore Road (713) 365-9463

According to the notice signed by Kaplan Management, the new owner of the building, the tenants got on January 30, the 145-unit complex must be left empty by March 8.

Mike Kaplan, CEO of Kaplan Management said tenants at 4100 Greenbriar will receive full month security-deposit refunds and up to $250 to help with moving costs. Furthermore, the company has put employees on site to help residents find other apartments.

The Houston Chronicle reports Kaplan Management is offering one month’s free rent and waiving security deposits to resident who chose to move to a property the company  manages on Weistheimer.

According to information obtained by the newspaper the building will be teared down and it will start a new life in a new form. The new name of the property will be “District at Greenbriar” and it will feature 250 to 300 high-end apartments, which is scheduled to open in early 2013.

What connects the Muffin Man and the distressed housing market? Well, the simple fact that the former owner of the muffin restaurant in Houston known as the yellow 1940 American foursquare at 2310 Converse Street has been hit by foreclosure.

The property was listed for sale as a foreclosure last week. As Swamplot reports, Jason Perry operated a notable Montrose after-hours spot in the fall of 2010 without obtaining any necessary city of state permits.

However, the property can be recognized from its “Muffin Man” insignia emblazoned on the front of the building’s upper story.

The luxury real estate was removed from the multiple listing service for a few days so the seller can put it on the market without showing that the price was reduced again.

The Huntington high-rise condo located at 2121 Kirby features 12,827-square-feet of living space. The asking price: $6,395,000, which is down 8.5% from the December price tag of $6.99 million. The asking price is now also below the value placed on the property as  of Jan. 1, 2011 by the Harris County Appraisal District: $6,828,881.

According to the Houston Business Journal, the high-rise condo takes up the entire 33rd floor of the Huntington, and offers panoramic views in all directions with its Italian Renaissance-inspired design. The real estate has four bedrooms, four full bathrooms, fiva half bathrooms, five half-baths and a study/library.

The original asking price of this luxury condominium was $12.8 million, and it was marketed for year with this price tag, without any success.

The total number of single family homes sold in 2011 was supplied by the Houston Area of Realtor’s recent statistic, which shows 53,606 single-family home sales recorded through HAR’s multiple listing service for last year.

However, single family homes aren’t the only ones trending upwards in sales: townhomes and condominium sale are also up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis totaling 63,810 compared to 61,005 reported a year prior. Total dollar volume increased 5.2% to $13 million from $12.4 million.

Still, the average price for single-family homes gained only 0.9 percent year over year, to $213,723 from $211,765 in 2010.

Another important information that came through the HAR report is that Houston’s housing market is the first one nationwide, which a healthy supply: the numbers show that there was 5.8 month of inventory available for sale in December, the lowest since 2009, while the nationwide inventory stays at 7.2 months.

Total sales in the area went up 4% compared to a year prior, at 53,606 homes changing owners, bringing the median price paid for a property up 0.7% to $155,000 for 2011.

“We spent a good part of the year struggling to accurately gauge the market, because we were comparing to accelerated sales in 2010 that resulted from the homebuyer tax credit,” said Wayne A. Stroman, HAR chairman. “Once we distanced ourselves from that period, we saw clear indications of a healthy market with a balanced supply of housing inventory and strong pricing.”

The numbers also underscored a significant 7.2% increase in home sales reported in December compared to the same month a year prior. With home sales on the rise, the median also jumped from the 2011 median to $160,000 in December. The positive sales activity was seen in all segments of the housing market, except for those priced above $500,000, which remained unchanged over last December.

Foreclosures jumped 6.1% in the December comparison, as the Multiple Listing Service reported. Distressed properties for 20.5% of all property sales, remaining consistent with the levels for much of 2011 with the median price holding steady at $82,550.

Plaza at Enclave hosts the regional headquarters for Down Chemical Co, located on nearly 8 acres located at 1254 Enclase Pkwy. Trent Agnew, Dan Miller and Rusty Tamlyn with Holliday Fenoglio Fowler Lp represented the seller in the transaction, as GlobeSt informs.

Public records show that Dow signed a lease through 2011 for 283,254 square-feet of the total leasable space and the now owners have to find tenants for only  4% of space, as the property is 96% leased.

The building was constructed in 2008, and Dow opted for Enclave because of its location to the employee base and its amenities package.

Since the building was finished the Energy Corridor was a success for their owners, while the housing market dealt with high absorption rates combined with dwindling vacancies which have led to speculative and build-to-suit construction.