What pandemic? Luxury home sales in Texas topped $10 billion despite COVID. Here’s why
The COVID-19 global pandemic knocked our nation to its knees in 2020, but it couldn’t slow down the sale of luxury homes in Texas.
According to the 2020 Texas Luxury Home Sales Report that was released earlier this month, the number of homes that sold for $1 million or more jumped by 23.5% between November 2019 to October 2020. That’s a significant increase over the previous year, when luxury homes sales increased 4.4% between November 2018 and October 2019.
Luxury homes in the Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio metropolitan areas “also showed total sales of million-dollar homes and higher homes reached $10.3 billion, a 23.8% increase from the previous year,” a news release said. “That total accounted for 8.8% of all sales dollar volume.”
All told, 6,347 luxury homes sold in Texas from November 2019 to October 2020. The average price per square foot was $360, compared to $139 per square foot for other residential properties.
Texas isn’t the only state where luxury home purchases surged. Redfin, the technology-power real estate brokerage, reported that U.S. sales surged 60.7% year over year during the three months ending Nov. 20, a news release said.
“One reason we’ve seen strong growth in luxury home sales despite the pandemic is that mortgage rates are so low,” said Marvin Jolly, chairman of Texas REALTORS, according to a release. “Buyers of high-end properties are finding they can buy more for their money, particularly when compared to many real estate markets in New York, California, and other pricier areas.”
In data released by Freddie Mac, “the 30-year fixed rate average, the most popular mortgage product, dropped to 2.66% during the week of Dec. 21,” Houston Business Journal said. Those rates were down from 2.67% the previous week and 3.74% a year ago.
The Texas Real Estate release said that from January to October of this year, luxury homes in Texas spent “an average of 86 days on the market” which was a one day drop during the same time frame in 2019.
“Buyers in the market for homes priced at $1 million and above will continue to have a good selection in most areas of Texas,” Jolly said, according to the release. “The features of luxury homes vary considerably from one property to another, though — from luxury condominiums and waterfront properties to homes with large acreage and guest quarters. “
This story was originally published December 29, 2020 at 3:30 PM.