Here is a look at the most recent data regarding the Houston real estate market!
During the week ending March 17, REALTORS® added 4,192 properties to the Multiple Listing Service versus 3,289 last year, which is up 27.5% year-over-year. What this means? Inventory is UP, so buyers have more choices to choose from.
Sellers withdrew more listings from the MLS during the week ending March 17. Houses removed from the market increased 22.8% year over-year, with a total of 1,771 properties going from active listings to off-market listings compared to 1,442 in 2024. What this means? Sellers are giving up more if their houses don’t sell and are instead keeping them to wait for a different time to sell.
And finally, Closings were 4.9% below last year’s figures in Week 11. There were 1,443 closings compared to 1,518 during the same time in 2024.
In Annoura Realty news, we welcome the new CEO of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Compressor, Mr. Toyota and his wife. While house hunting with Mrs. Toyota, we found a small window of time and went to the rodeo! It was so fun showing her the horse arena, food court, wine garden, the animals inside NRG Center, and of course the international lounge. We continued the house hunting with Mr. Toyota a few days later and picked out their favorite home! Susan and Mariko’s commercial listing hit the market last week and we are marketing the property on CommGate and Loopnet. The property also has its own website: https://media.tkimages.com/1717-Tidwell-Rd. Koh showed homes to our newest NAIND expat, Mr. Nakata, in Clear Lake while Mariko showed apartments to our newest expat who will be working at the Japanese Consulate. We also had a couple of people from Kagoshima and Osaka come to talk to us about possibly open an eel shop in Houston! Will be exciting if they really come! On the sale front, we hit a delay on our Laughing Gull listing when the buyer couldn’t make the deadline for getting their loan. That closing will delay one week. We are working on possible listings in La Marque and Royal Oaks and will keep you posted! On the forefront we look forward to working with newcomers from Daikin and KDDI!
Top Annoura family news has Susan in Japan to work on furnishing their new home in Fukuoka. Furniture hunting is harder than it looks! Susan visited IKEA multiple times, as well as Nittori, Muji, and several other furniture shops with her good friends Mr. and Mrs. Izumida on Day 1. On Day 2, she went back to IKEA with her good friend Mr. Arizono and finally on Day 3, she purchased several items for the second floor: two beds, a dining table and four chairs, 4 barstools, and a sofa! In addition to furniture shopping, Susan popped by to visit her host family from 30 years ago, The Akiyama family in Shingu! She was also able to meet up with her best friends, Miki, Ito kun, Hitoshi, Bruce, and Mr. Nagino for an amazing Japanese meal + a stop for Hakata ramen at a famous ‘yatai’ food stall. It’s so exciting to see the house all done finally and to see Koh’s parents so happy. On the way home, Susan stopped in Tokyo to see some friends and clients. One special person is Junko Matsubara who used to live on the same street as Susan in Bay Oaks. Going back to Japan is always so fun because of the good food and great friends!
In other family news, Joe and Zach were both on spring break at the same time, so they hit the road with Koh and Susan’s Aunt Ping. The four of them went to Big Bend National Park for a couple days of off roading, camping, and hiking!
Tariffs have significant negative impacts on Texas due to its deep integration with global trade, particularly with Mexico and Canada.
Key effects include:
Economic Losses: Texas could lose $46–$47 billion annually in GDP and 370,000 jobs if 25% tariffs are sustained on imports from Mexico and Canada.
Higher Consumer Costs: Tariffs increase prices for goods like produce, cars, and electronics. For example, groceries such as avocados and tomatoes from Mexico would become more expensive. Average households may face an additional $1,500–$1,830 annually in costs.
Housing Market Impact: Tariffs on steel and lumber from Canada could add $17,000–$22,000 to the cost of new homes, worsening the housing shortage in Texas.
Trade Disruption: As the largest U.S. exporting state, Texas relies heavily on trade with Mexico ($88.6 billion annually). Tariffs disrupt supply chains and increase costs for industries like automotive manufacturing.
Overall, tariffs threaten Texas’ economy by raising costs for businesses and consumers, disrupting trade relationships, and slowing economic growth.
It is February 24, 2025 and Koh is STILL in Japan. It feels like forever, but his work at the new house in Fukuoka could not be finished so we made the decision to toss his original plane ticket home (was supposed to be on Valentine’s Day!) and buy a new return ticket on March 4. On a side note, have you heard about the new airlines, Zip Air, coming to Houston!? It starts on March 4 and Koh will ride on it from Narita. Incredibly, a one way ticket is only $330, but there are some extra fees for luggage, food, even water…HA HA! Still, it’s a great deal and was worth it for Koh to be able to stay a few extra weeks. The last payment was made to the builder, the house is officially our’s, and Koh’s parents have permanently moved into it! Remaining to do is to clean out the rental house, repair all the damages, and return it to the landlord by the end of February. And, now that our address has slightly changed, Koh has to change the address for all of his parents paperwork, insurance, bank accounts, everything! Good luck, Koh! As you can imagine, with Koh gone, Susan is running around like crazy, running to showings, to carpool, to events, to carpool, to meetings, and back to carpool for Zach. And speaking of Zach, he made the Westbrook Intermdiate golf team, though I feel like I have to mention there were only 5 kids that wanted to do it so the tryouts never happened! Joe went to New Orleans with his fraternity brothers to experience gambling at a casino, watching his first Mardi Gras, and trying his first turtle soup! Meanwhile, Ty got himself in some hot water with his wrestling coach and has been sidelined from the wrestling team until further notice. Oh no…
On a fun note, CCISD had a 4 (yes, FOUR) day weekend last week so Susan and Zach went on a great Houston area vacay. They hit the Menil Collection, Houston Aquarium Ferris wheel, Carrabba’s on Voss, overnighted at the Omni, then visited the William’s Tower/Water Wall, Ice skated at the Galleria, lunched at Seiwa, desserted at Chez Kobayashi, went for foot massages in Chinatown, and finally, went to Jollybee for dinner (Zach’s request). He’s 12 and he’s growing up fast! ❤️