It is no secret that Hurricane Ike caused an awful lot of trouble for residents of Southeast Texas. One lesser know fact is how the Hurricane has impacted residential home sales in the area.
Mid-County just reported the November sales figures for homes listed in the Mid-County MLS. This data is sent to the The Real Estate Center at Texas A&M, the creators of the graph above. The prodominant towns covered by the Mid-County MLS are: Port Arthur, Port Neches, Nederland, and Groves.
September home sales in 2008 numbered a mere 25. This is to be expected with two mandatory evacuations and several days without businesses able to write title insurance, fund loans, or issue home owners policies. October rebounded fairly well. There were 85 home closings in October of 2008 compared to 96 in October of 2007 and 91 in October of 2006.
November's home sales for 2008 are official. There were 66 closings recorded in the mid-county MLS this year. That compares to 76 closings reported in 2007 and 63 closings reported in 2006. One might say that Hurricane Ike slowed sales the past three months. One might also say its the economy. But for those of you who think its the economy, what do you think happened to the median sales price?
If you had to guess what happened to the median price since 2006 what would you guess? Here's a strong reason to buy a home in Southeast Texas. During the past three years the median home price is up about 30%. The median price of mid-county homes sales in October 2006 was $96,400. In October 2007 it was $127,500. In October 2008 it was $131,400. That's an increase of about $35,000. Take that Hurricane Ike.
What sales will December bring? Stay tuned. Time will tell if home sellers have a Happy Holiday. One thing you can count on is you'll find out more about Southeast Texas home sales here than you will any place else.