The Texas Housing Market post

from The Power Is Now Magazine | February 2021

The Black History Month

THE TEXAS HOUSING MARKET POST-COVID-19

Johnnie Morine

The coronavirus has had an effect on everyone’s life globally; there have been restrictions and new measures put in place to help people stay safe and healthy. Texans are also trying to adjust to the stayat-home order and, at the same time, trying to cover rising expenses. The coronavirus has caused a drastic cut in many people’s income, with unemployment rates soaring in the country. As a result, many housing and real estate agents state that it’s difficult to guess what the effect of the crises will be on the value of homes and also home sales.

Many Texan housing market experts foresee a slowdown in the housing market, but there is no way to tell how much and how long the effect will last. Before the coronavirus, the Texas housing market was one of the leading real estate markets in the country and had previously had five breaking records on a number of home sales as well as median prices. The home building industry in Texas has been solid over the years, with Texas having the highest number of building permits since 2019.

Many economists are using the housing sector as a measure for the economy as a whole because the housing sector affects many job opportunities like that of builders, laborers, and several other professions. It also affects the moving companies and the furniture stores, which indicates that if the housing market experiences a boost, so will the economy.

However, housing market experts foresee a slowdown in the showing of homes, which have begun to take a virtual turn.

Permits for new construction is also expected to drop due to the coronavirus effect. Many regions like Houston that depend strongly on the energy industry for employment will see a drop in the sales of homes as well as home values than any other region in Texas, and experts foresee that such regions will take the longest time to recover from the effect of the COVID-19.

This is already apparent in Houston, where a fewer number of people are choosing to place their home in the market, but luckily, there’s been an improvement in the value of homes in the region. Although research shows that there’s been a decrease in the listing of single-family homes, the prices of these homes have significantly increased by 3.6% and are still looking up.

One thing that’s for sure is that different regions’ housing market is sure to react quite differently. Although predictions see the Houston housing market being hit very hard, Midland Odessa is expected to turn out worse than Houston. This is because they have a smaller economy, which makes them quite volatile because of their lack of diversity. Areas that weren’t doing well before the COVID-19 would turn out worse, especially those close to the Mexican border. One thing is clear in Texas. However, the physical home show has slowed down, and more people are making a commitment towards virtual showings. It would be difficult for the value of homes to go down drastically, but the result of Texan jobs post COVID-19 will determine how the Texan housing market turns out.

A SHIFT TOWARDS DIGITAL REAL ESTATE

Because of the stay-at-home order, more Texans are choosing the safe alternative of putting their homes up for listing. It is quite convenient, and it is widely accepted that online tours save time and cost in terms of transaction fees as well as offering bundled services. This rapid growth in digital real estate has significantly softened the negative effect of the COVID-19 on the state revenue and losses made in the construction sector job market. It is also hoped that this trend will begin to stimulate growth in the housing market as people adapt to the new norm.

Reference

https://www.texastribune.org/2020/04/07/coronavirus-texascools-real-estate-market-experts-dont-know-how-long/ https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/texashousing-market-posted-strong-numbers-in-summer2020-as-the-digital-real-estate-economy-nearly-tripledstatewide-301137127.html

YOU DESERVE TO LIVE SAFE FROM SEXUAL HARASSMENT.

Sexual harassment by a landlord or anyone related to your housing violates the Fair Housing Act. If you receive unwelcome sexual advances or are threatened with eviction because you refuse to provide sexual favors, you may fi le a fair housing complaint.