Land Rush in Houston Highlight City's Real Estate Market Rebound

A series of land transactions in Houston, fueled by an increased demand for new construction, is dominating the city’s real estate activities, a report on Chron.com said.

The top five transactions reported by Chron.com on Monday involved hundreds of acres of land intended for residential developments. The first and largest of which is the sale of 621 acres of land owned by the Beckendorff family in the Katy area to three real estate investors. The investors are anticipating a rise in land valuations in the area and plan on selling the plot as housing developers rush to buy what’s left of Houston’s undeveloped land.

The second top deal involved the sale of 165 acres of land in Magnolia to an unknown buyer. The land was owned by the Leslie Doughtie families since the 1840s and will be used for a new community development.

The third, fourth, and fifth transactions involved the sale of 155 acres, 133 acres, and 104 acres in Rosenberg, Montgomery County, and northwest Houston. The reason for the third land deal was undisclosed. The fourth and fifth plots would be used for industrial development.

Houston’s housing market is on an upswing that began in June following a dip in May due to new property listings, according to a statement from the Houston Association of Realtors.  

“Those new listings may finally be helping feed the voracious appetites of home buyers who have been stymied by the lowest inventory levels in 40 years,” HAR noted in the statement.

Home prices also rebounded to “new record highs” with most of the purchases coming from the $250,000 and $500,000 price range.

“June’s positive sales performance is a testament to the strength of the Houston housing market,” said HAR Chair Chaille Ralph in the statement. “We were thrilled to see home sales rebound after May’s decline and we hope that as new listings come onto the market and home construction continues, inventory levels will rise to a point where we can truly say that balance has been restored.”

In a separate report, Redfin named Houston as one of the top, not to mention, affordable destinations where Americans will be relocating to as new loan policies make it harder for aspiring homeowners to borrow.

Selling properties and undeveloped plots in Houston would be easier for agents through the use of virtual tours and video listings. Nestbuilder.com, a consumer site developed by RealBiz Media Group, Inc. RBIZ that hosts over 1.6 million property videos, is one web site agents can use for their listings.

According to a video message from RealBiz Media CEO Bill Kerby, about 24,637 active agents are currently using RealBiz Media’s virtual tour platform.

He also said that consumers visiting Nestbuilder.com have spent 53 minutes browsing the site on average. Each unique web site visitor browse 4.8 pages on the site per visit.

Nestbuilder.com’s page views have also grown by as much as 195 percent growth within a month, a key indicator of the platform’s growth and marketing potential for realtors.