- Homebuilders are beginning to offer higher end homes at a discount.
- Sugar Land's south region rivals The Woodlands for highest home values in Houston.
- Average home prices in the city's north region near $275,000.
Slowing sales activity has done little to affect Sugar Land’s existing home prices.
“The affordable side is gone in Sugar Land,” said Shad Bogany, a realtor with Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate Gary Greene, acknowledging the market has experienced a “little slowdown” in transaction volume.
In Sugar Land’s south region the average sales price of a home was $518,729 during a recent 12-month period, according to the Houston Association of Realtors.
During the same period sales activity dipped by roughly 9 percent on a period-over-period basis. Like other Houston submarkets, slowing sales activity can be attributed to volatility within the oil and gas industries, along with the seasonal slowdown in home sales.
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The south region is home to a number of master-planned communities and is where most of the city’s growth is occurring, and therefore it accounts for the largest percentage of the city’s home sales.
Bogany attributes continued price appreciation in the region to the lack of new home inventory.
“The new home side has not caught up with the marketplace,” he said, adding this puts more pressure on resales, in terms of pricing.
New homes that are being delivered are higher end, starting around at least $300,000. Bogany notes he’s beginning to see builders offer discounts for their $400,000 to $450,000 homes.
“That market is getting soft,” he said.
Another sign affordability is gone, Sugar Land’s north region, known for offering a lower price point for resales, recently saw a double-digit rise in home values. According to HAR, the average price of a home sold between October 2014 and September 2015 was $274,246, an 11.3 percent period-over-period increase.
