Texas Housing Market Largely Unaffected by Energy Downturn

Real Estate Center Economist: Texas Housing Market Largely Unaffected
by Energy Downturn — So Far
By Bryan Pope, Associate Editor, Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University
May 26, 2015/Release No. 20-0515
COLLEGE STATION, Tex. (Real Estate Center) – Going into the second quarter of the year,
new data from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University show that the Texas housing
market hasn’t been affected much by the downturn in the oil and gas industry.
Statewide, Multiple Listing Service (MLS) home sales had a 5 percent year-over-year increase
in April while the median price was up 9 percent.
“The impact of the decline in oil prices on Texas housing markets as a whole has not been as
great as feared so far,” said Center Research Economist Dr. Jim Gaines. “But individual
markets may be feeling the effects differently.”
According to the latest MLS data (as of May 20), 25,906 homes were sold last month, about
1,321 more than in April 2014 and 1,700 more than in March 2015.
The median price was $196,200 compared with $179,900 a year ago and $191,000 in March.
Gaines said last month that as long as demand for housing stays high and inventory is low,
Texans should expect home price increases to continue.
Months' inventory was at 3.3 months, a slight drop from 3.5 months last April. Center
economists consider 6.5 months a balanced market.
Just over 79,400 homes were listed in April, down 3 percent from a year ago.
April 2015 home sales data for most Texas MLSs are posted on the Center's website at
http://www.recenter.tamu.edu/data/hs/. Roughly 10 to 15 percent of the sales represented by
the data are new home sales.
—30—
Real Estate Center
Gary Maler, 979-845-9691 (director)
Dr. Ali Anari, 979-845-2094 (econometrics)
Dr. Mark Dotzour, 979-862-6292 (chief economist)
Attorney Judon Fambrough, 979-845-2007 (legal issues)
Dr. James Gaines, 979-845-2079 (residential)
Dr. Charles Gilliland, 979-845-2080 (rural land)
Dr. Harold Hunt, 979-847-9021 (commercial)
Dr. Luis Torres, 979-845-7972 (econometrics)
For information on the Real Estate Center, contact Senior Editor David S. Jones at 979-8452039 (voice), 979-845-0460 (fax) or d-jones@tamu.edu. Or contact Associate Editor Bryan
Pope, 979-845-2088 (office) or b-pope@tamu.edu.
Thousands of pages of data are available at the Center’s web site. News is also available in our
electronic newsletter, our twice-weekly e-newsletter RECON (with RSS feed), our weekly Real
Estate Red Zone podcast, on Facebook, daily NewsTalk Texas (with RSS feed) and on Twitter.
To request a free press subscription to our quarterly flagship periodical Tierra Grande
magazine, contact David Jones at the e-mail address above.