San Angelo home sales surge

SAN ANGELO – In April 2013 there were 164 sales of existing homes out of 269 listings, and the sales went for an average of $149,600, according to data from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M.

Additionally, the inventory stood at two months, the lowest it’s been since June 2007 when it was 1.4 months, said Kandi Pool, executive vice president of the San Angelo Association of Realtors.

A healthy level of residential real estate inventory is 5.5 to 7.5 months, said Jim Gaines, research economist at the Center.

Gaines concluded the upward trend in housing cost is most likely driven by the increased oil field activity in the area and the promise of the Cline Shale. Aside from the oil activity, Gaines credits a diversified economy for keeping the real estate market in San Angelo healthy for so long while markets in other parts of the country disintegrated.

“San Angelo has historically had low inventory numbers, and it doesn’t really have big peaks and valleys,” Gaines said. “The real estate market will continue the way it’s going because we’re in the middle of prime selling season right now. You can’t go that long at a 13 percent, 15 percent appreciation without having a bubble, which might happen toward the end of the year.”

“If the price of oil stays above $90 a barrel, then that trend will continue in the Wolf Camp — the Big Lake, Ozona area. The Cline Shale is still unproven, although there’s a lot of speculation in what it can do,” said Gary Cox, president of Texas Bank in San Angelo.