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I was asked recently what I thought inflation meant to housing in Lubbock. I’ve talked in the past about the supply constraint, particularly in terms of Months of Inventory. Let me say that I think the recent increase in MOI has as much to do with buyers receding from...

It feels a little like spelunking without a flashlight. Forge on with uncertainty. The data are mixed. Rates are up, but so are mortgage applications. Prices are high, but volume continues apace. It feels like there’s enough confidence to get us through this season. M...

Local MLS Data shows that the spring transaction season is on. March 2022 closed with 423 units on the market versus 616 new listings and 494 sold transactions. Closed Sales Months of Inventory was a very low 0.9. There were 551 pending transactions at month’s end. Me...

Local MLS data for February 2022 continues to support the seller’s market. We are sitting on 1.1 Months-of-Inventory (429 listed, 394 sold). The last time we were even in the shadow of a month that started with a two on MOI was January 2021 (1.8). I had questions abou...

Allow me a little non-market business. Or at least consider one item not directly related to purchases, sales, and construction. If you care at all about zoning, subdivisions, parking and landscaping in commercial development, please go 

Let’s talk about new home construction growth. Recall that in 2019 we set a record by issuing over 1300 new home permits. In 2020 we crushed that record by issuing 1826 new home permits. Well, the 2021 numbers made those records appear diminutive. At last count, we is...

Happy Holidays! I don’t have a Top Gifts list for you, or a year-end Best Of post. But I will point you to a new offering from one of my favorite econ bloggers, Bill McBride…

We are sitting on 1.2 Months of Inventory for October 2021. That is derived from a faster pace of closings (467 vs 450) and fewer homes in the market (665 vs. 778) when compared to October 2020. Average days on the market fell to 58 days (from 74 in 10/2020). Median Sol...

Basic economic theory says when supply is low and demand is high, prices increase. September inventory was low in Lubbock (592 Active Listings; 1.3 MOI). Demand was still high (8.7% YoY volume increase), and prices reflected that (24.7% Y...

We’ve seen some relief in the Months-of-Inventory category, and that supply-constraint has affected sales volume (transaction count and prices) as we’ve discussed. But I want to highlight another metric to tell that story. In “normal” times (or at least in a mar...