Harvey leads to first quarterly drop in home sales in 4 years

For the first time since the second quarter of 2012, Texas has seen a decline in quarterly home sales, following Hurricane Harvey

Harvey leads to first quarterly drop in home sales in 4 years
For the first time since the second quarter of 2012, Texas has seen a decline in quarterly home sales, following Hurricane Harvey.

The Texas Association of Realtors says that there were 91,401 sales in the third quarter of 2017, down 0.3% from a year earlier while the median price increased 5.6% year-over-year to $225,000.

"As anticipated, the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey has had a significant impact on our state's housing market this fall, as many Texans were forced to postpone their goals of buying or selling a home in order to deal with devastation in their homes and communities," said Vicki Fullerton, chairman of the Texas Association of REALTORS®. "Declines in local market home sales across the state in the third quarter were largely concentrated in regions impacted by Harvey, including the Houston area and local markets along the Texas coast."

Inventory was up slightly to 4.0 months with active listings increasing by 7.4% year-over-year to 109,961.

"Despite this slight dip in home sales activity in the third quarter of 2017, the Texas housing market is still on pace for another record-breaking year. We need inventory for the housing market to continue to grow in major metropolitan areas like Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston," concluded Fullerton.