In a turnabout from the recent trend of ever-higher home prices, Houston sellers are beginning to knock down their asking prices.
Recent data from two major real estate listing platforms show that more home sellers are cutting their asking prices in the Bayou City, the Houston Chronicle reports. Redfin estimates approximately 38 percent of Houston homes on the market saw price reductions in the past month. Compared to the same time last year, only about 25 percent of Houston homes dropped their prices.
Houston’s Texas neighbors are also feeling this shift. About 41.6 percent of homes on the market in Austin had price drops in June, compared to only 14.9 percent the same time last year, according to Redfin.
Figures from Zillow are less dramatic, suggesting that 16.8 percent of listed Houston homes saw price cuts in June, which marks a year-over-year increase of about 5.6 percent.
“Home sellers are contending with a rapidly changing market, especially in places where they’re used to their neighbor’s homes getting multiple offers and selling for more than asking price,” said Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari in a statement. “Higher mortgage rates and a potential recession are causing prospective buyers in popular migration destinations to press the pause button. Sellers are adjusting their expectations in real time as they realize they may not get the price their neighbor got two months ago.”
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Houston home sellers may be cursing themselves that they didn’t sell sooner, but they’re actually luckier than most.
In Boise, one of the most popular pandemic-migration hotspots, the median home price jumped more than 60 percent over the pandemic, according to Redfin. But last month, Boise saw the nation’s biggest number of price drops, with 61.5 percent of homes for sale getting price reductions in June.
Texas is still relatively affordable in the eyes of Californians, according to Redfin. Among its users searching for a new home in Houston who don’t already live here, Los Angeles, New York City and the Bay Area were the top areas where they were looking to move from in the second quarter. San Antonio, Dallas and Houston ranked ninth, tenth and eleventh respectively on the platform’s list of top metros where migrants were looking to move.
[Houston Chronicle] — Maddy Sperling