Houston Market Continues To Defy

HOUSTON — (April 12, 2007) – Single-family home sales for March were down compared to the same month last year for the first time since 2004 in the Houston real estate market, but it was still the second highest number of sales ever recorded for the month of March and a 23.3 percent increase from last month. The fact that this March did not result in the total number of sales generated in March 2006 did not prevent a simultaneous increase in sales prices. The Houston area real estate market continued to outpace most of the nation and experience growth, although the rate of increase slowed from recent years, according to statistics released by the Houston Association of Realtors®.

Housing in the Houston region has avoided the more pronounced drops experienced by most other major U.S. metropolitan markets. Forecasters speculate that the number of local foreclosures and more stringent lending standards may be possible contributors to the slowdown in growth, not to mention Houston has seen an unprecedented sales volume for the last five years so a small adjustment still leaves Houston with a stable market.

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By Nick Georgandis
Katy Times
Managing Editor

On May 12, voters in Fort Bend County will go to the polls to address a $153.2 million mobility bond that if passed will commence construction on 47 projects including five that directly affect the greater Katy area.

Walt Sass, a representative of Fort Bend County Commisioner Andy Meyers’ office, addressed the
upcoming election Tuesday morning to a host of Katy business leaders.

“The money from our 2000 bond is exhausted,” Stass said.

“All the authorized bonds have been sold.”

The 2000 bond election included a $140 million bond for tollways and another $86 million for general projects.

Of the projects on the 2000 bond, 14 were completed, eight are under construction and 14 more have their engineering complete.

The first of five projects that directly affect the Katy area begins at the corner of Greenbusch and Westheimer Parkway near Rylander Elementary.

The project will widen the street to four lanes with concrete curb and gutter all the way to Pin Oak.

The second project will be the widening of Katy-Flewellen Rd. from two lanes to four from Pin Oak Rd. to Gaston Rd.

The third project will be expansion of Gaston Rd. from FM 1093 to Cinco Ranch Blvd.

Fourth on the list is the expansion of Falcon Landing Blvd. west from its location near Ryland Elementary to becoming a major thoroughfare as it passes over the nearby bayou with a bridge to be built all the way to Gaston Rd.

The final project is a joint operation by Fort Bend County and the City of Katy which will cost around $1 million and will see the extension of Kingsland Blvd. through the WoodCreek Reserve subdivision and eventually connecting it to FM 1463.

“All of these projects are consistent with the major thoroughfare plans,” KISD architect Peter McElwain, one of the project’s committee members said on Tuesday.

“We feel this is a major step in catching up with the growing number of people that are coming into Fort Bend County every year. Right now there is a real lack of safety driving on two-lane roads with deep ditches.”

A complete list of all 47 propose projects appears on http://kfbm.net/239073.ihtml, a Web site that is promoting the bond’s passing.

All 47 projects are expected to be completed within a five-year time frame, according to Fort Bend County officials.

Sass said the passage of the bond would raise county tax rates by less than two cents and that cost would be diluted over time as more and more people move to the county.

According to a county report, 20,000 new homes will be built there in the next 10 years.

Download PDF Map of Projects

Download Project List

The master-planned community Cinco Ranch posted the largest sales gain in a survey of top-selling master-planned communities in the United States, moving up 14 notches to rank fourth nationally for 2006.

A 7,400-acre development by Newland Communities, Cinco Ranch reported 943 new-home sales in 2006, earning it fourth place on the list of the nation’s Top 10 selling master-planned communities, compiled by RCLCO (formerly Robert Charles Lesser & Co.), an independent real estate advisory firm.

A 30 percent sales increase — the largest in the national survey — helped Cinco Ranch move up from 18th place in the previous year’s survey.

The list also includes Eagle Springs, another Newland Communities development in Houston. With 509 new-home sales in 2006, Eagle Springs appeared on the national list for the first time, ranking 10th. Its 25 percent sales increase was second only to Cinco Ranch.

Topping the list for Houston was The Woodlands — coming in as the nation’s third top-selling community, with 1,409 sales in 2006, moving up from the sixth-place position it held in 2005. The top-selling community in the nation was Poinciana in central Florida.

RCLCO has been releasing its top-selling MPC rankings since 1994, but 2006 was the first year that the company tracked net (versus gross) sales, in order to get a clearer accounting of the increased levels of cancellations that characterized the new-home market in 2006, the company said in a news release.

Ted Nelson, regional president of the Texas Division of Newland Communities, said the strong showing by Houston master-planned communities demonstrates the health of the region’s new-home market, relative to the rest of the United States.

Overall, sales among the top 10 master planned communities in the United States were down approximately 23 percent from 2005, according to the RCLCO study.

“Houston and Texas are showing signs of steady, healthy growth compared to other parts of the United States, and we believe that our progress will be sustainable in the short- and long-term outlook,” Nelson said.

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