Housing prices have skyrocketed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising by 16% in Harris County from 2020-2021.
That’s higher than the typical 6% annual growth average of the last decade, researchers with the Rice University Kinder Institute for Urban Research said.
“This is really one of the first opportunities we have to see post-COVID data,” said the Kinder Institute’s Luis Guajardo. “This is intended to help us all be on the same wavelength when we talk about housing locally.”
Guajardo made the comments during a recent webinar to present the institute’s 2022 State of Housing report.
The report focused on a variety of findings, including the significant increase in median sales housing prices. The median sales price of a home is now $285,000 in Harris County and $315,000 in Houston.
Researchers found the spike is linked to the housing shortage and increased prices of home resells, which is “concerning” to researchers, as resells make up a large part of the affordable housing market.
According to the report, demand for single-family homes has driven up prices and lowered inventory. This has made homeownership further out of reach for the median renter household.
The median price of a home in Harris County, $285,000, is nearly double the price a median renter can afford to buy, at $149,000.