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Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Houston-area builders are selling more homes than they're building, leading to a shrinking supply of new homes on the market.
That's according to the latest survey by Metrostudy, a national consulting company that tracks housing.
Housing starts dropped year-over-year 28 percent to around 34,500 during the 12 months ending in March. But builders closed on 39,880 homes during the same period.
In the first quarter, the area's new housing supply fell to 2.7 months, meaning it would take that long to sell all the finished homes on the market based on prior sales activity. That's an amount experts consider stable, according to Metrostudy.
Brian Binash, president of the Greater Houston Builders Association and Wilshire Homes, said builders have scaled back so much that he's anticipating a shortage of homes as early as this summer.
The shrinking inventory, combined with low interest rates and continued job growth, could lead to higher prices if demand spikes.
"If you're thinking of waiting until this summer or later, I wouldn't," Binash said.
Prices already rose in the first quarter.
The median price of a new home was $202,287, up 15 percent over last year.
David Orlando, president of Brighton Homes in Houston, expects prices to remain flat this year or rise slightly.
"But I don't think we'll have to give the incentives, so we'll make it up there," he said.
nancy.sarnoff@chron.com
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