Of Houston’s outer submarkets, greater Katy accounts for the highest volume of home sales; however, activity in the area has shown signs of slowing as days on market has lengthened.
A number of Katy residents work in the energy and oil sectors, and are currently hanging back, making sure they have a job and seeing how the economy will impact oil prices before making a home purchase.
According to Christi Borden, a realtor with Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate Gary Greene, greater Katy hasn’t seen backward movement on prices despite less buyer competition and longer listing times. She points to the market’s relatively low 3.8 months of inventory as a reason for home values holding strong. Several years ago inventory was down to 0.6 months.
“It’s still a healthy market just not the extreme market we had before,” Borden said, adding some buyers that couldn’t purchase last year many re-enter the market because of the reduction in competition.
Located 30 miles west of Houston, greater Katy has roughly 300,000 residents while the city of Katy has a population of only 14,000.
Katy’s southwest region is home to the most activity, despite a recent 5.5 percent year-over-year decline in sales volume. According to the Houston Association of Realtors, 2,527 homes sold in the region spanning October 2014 to September 2015. Some of these homes were newly built; however, Borden notes builders are running out of space in this region.
Despite the drop in sales volume, home values in southwest Katy increased by 5 percent during the above mentioned period. The average sales prices in the region stood at $379,811.
Homebuilders active in Katy are now focusing their attention on the area’s north region, a locale master plan developers have historically stayed away from. Cane Island represents one ongoing development in the north.
Spanning October 2014 to September 2015 the average sales price rose by 15.1 percent to $180,098, according to HAR. This is impressive considering sales volume during the same period only rose by 3.7 percent on a year-over-year basis.
