Report: Houston home sales tumble 10 percent

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Houston-area home sales tumbled 10 percent last month, the biggest drop since spring 2011 as an economic downturn sent sales into a double-digit decline, a new report shows.

The declines were seen throughout all price ranges, from the least expensive single-family homes to the priciest, the Houston Association of Realtors said Wednesday in a monthly report.

In total, 5,873 single-family homes changed hands in October. Townhouse and condominium sales plummeted 17.3 percent, with 508 units selling in October.

The report comes on the heels of news from building analyst Metrostudy, which said new home closings were off a staggering 27 percent.

October marked the fifth time this year that single-family sales have fallen. Year-to-date, sales were down 1 percent.

The median price, meanwhile, was up 6.6 percent to $205,000, likely due to the relatively low supply of properties for sale, said the local realty association, which tracks homes sold through the Multiple Listing Service primarily in Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties.

Inventory has been stagnant since early this summer at 3.5 months, meaning it would take that long to sell all the homes on the market based on recent trends.

"At the beginning of the year, we discussed how Houston home sales would normalize by the end of 2015, and after an impressive run that rivaled last year's record levels, it looks like the forecast is coming true in the fourth quarter," HAR Chairwoman Nancy Furst said in a statement.

A bright sign for buyers is that there were 26 percent more houses on the market than there was last year. Realtors had 21,699 active listings in October.

And houses aren't selling as fast as they once were, giving buyers a little more time to consider a purchase. It took an average of 53 days to sell a house in October, up from 49 days a year earlier.

Here's the breakout of October sales activity:

Price range / Change

Less than $80,000 -27.2%

$80,000-$150,000 -24.9%

$150,000-$250,000 -5.6%

$250,000-$500,000 -3.4%

$500,000 and above -10.4%

Share of sales