June 2017 Reports and July Preliminary Data

New titles for June moved up 2.9% over May with both single-section and multi-section home sales posting gains. Compared to June of 2016, single-section titles were up 3% while multi-section titles were down 2.6%, leaving the month mostly flat year-over-year.

Harris County retook the top spot for new home installations for the month of June, while Liberty County cooled slightly from the month-over-month gains it posted for the two preceding months. The 27 new homes installed in Liberty however, were still 80% more than what the county recorded for June of 2017.

The state as a whole is up 4.44% for new titles for 2017 and that growth is coming from counties outside the top four. Harris County is continuing its three-year reign as the number one county for new installations in the state, but is currently tracking below the installation growth rate for the state with a 1.7% increase YoY. The rest of the top four counties are all down significantly from this date a year ago: Bexar (-11%), Montgomery (-9.1%), and Travis (-13.7%). After those three counties, the rest of the top ten are beating the state’s growth rate, with Liberty (43.2%), Tarrant (22%), Midland (52.2%) and Bastrop (22.7%) beating it by a wide margin. It’s worth noting as well that Dallas County while just outside the top ten is tracking 100% above 2016’s new installation totals.

Looking past June, July’s new titles are tracking well below both June of 2017 and July of 2016, indicating there was some slow down. The impact of Hurricane Harvey will also likely delay title processing for deals done prior to the storm in the effected counties, and I expect will lower sales in those counties after the event as the effected counties start their recovery efforts.