South Texas housing inventory remains high

MCALLEN – After 185 sales, the McAllen market had 2,154 homes listed in July, according to the latest available data from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University — enough to meet demand for 14 months. That’s well above the Texas average of nearly six months.

Brownsville also had 14 months’ supply and Harlingen topped 22 months. South Padre Island had 32 months.

Together with a tight credit market and a building boom before the recession, the wait-and-see attitude from sellers has kept the Valley’s home inventory high for several years. The housing glut has pushed prices lower and largely kept subdivision and development activity on ice.

Statewide, the Real Estate Center considers 6.5 months of housing supply — how long it would take to sell all homes on the market based on current sales — a balanced market. Any higher, and prices begin to flat-line. Any lower, and prices begin to rise. If housing supply rises above nine months, prices begin to fall.