Houston Home Resales See Best Year Ever!

The Houston area's home resale market, spurred on by low mortgage rates, hit record highs last year as almost 57,000 used properties traded hands.

Residential real estate was one of the economy's few bright spots last year as national recession, widespread layoffs and stock market turmoil dominated economic news in 2001.

Home builders reported outstanding sales. Apartments were filled to the highest occupancy rates in years, creating a potentially brisk business for residential realty agents.

The 56,980 used properties sold in the Houston area last year was 2.6 percent "higher" than the previous year, the Houston Association of Realtors said. It was the greatest number of homes sold in the resale market in one year, the association said.

Houston area deals totaled $8.8 billion, "up" 6 percent from 2001. The strong results are particularly impressive given marketplace shocks last year, with flooding from Tropical Storm Allison in June and the terrorists attacks in September, said Shad Bogany, the association's chairman.

"It was the best year ever in the city," Bogany said. "Real estate really is the flagship of the economy right now.

Shoppers saw their buying power increased by low interest rates - with 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages below 7 percent for much of the year.

Source for this article: Houston Chronicle January 17, 2002.

                       Niki Mettrick

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