The recession hurt Houston’s real estate market in a bad way. But perhaps the segment of the market where it hurt particularly bad was the mansion market. River Oaks Houston homes were sitting on the market, and no one was begging to gobble up those homes priced over $500,000. But River Oaks Houston homes are singing an entirely different tune today. In fact, some are even speculating that mansion sales of 2012 will rival those from the 1980s.

Those pricey homes in River Oaks, Memorial and West University Place are no longer sitting on the MLS, hoping for a taker. Instead, homes priced over $500,000 are making up the strongest segment of the market; and home sellers here couldn’t be happier.

In fact, the Houston Association of Realtors recently announced that home sales in Houston were up 14 percent from the same time last year. Although this is certainly good news, the great news, perhaps, lies with those pricey homes from $500,000 and up. It is these homes that saw a whopping 27.2 percent increase from last year.

A Healthy Economy Spurred by the Energy Industry

Although home prices aren’t surging, Houston’s healthy economy is creating a lot of momentum in the housing market. The strong energy sector is certainly bringing those mansion buyers out of the woodwork, thanks in part to the lifting of the moratorium on deep-water drilling. In fact, the energy boom in Houston brought 90,000 more jobs to the region since last year, and the Greater Houston Partnership anticipates that 2012 will be a record year for job growth. And, of course, job growth equals strong home sales.

Houston real estate agents have noted that some of the upscale properties in the Inner Loop are even getting multiple offers in some cases. Many real estate experts see a rise in the upper-end housing market as a great indicator of trends in the mid-priced home market, which further spells success for this housing market.

In June of this year, $1.7 billion worth of residential properties were sold in Houston. That’s the highest monthly sales total since August 2007, according to the Houston Association of Realtors. And inventory continues to be low, with the single-family inventory of homes at its lowest level in more than five years. Posted by Richard Soto on
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