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By Kathryn Cargo – Reporter, Corpus Christi Caller Times
Residential industry developers, builders and real estate agents were worried last spring, when the economy shut down for a few months at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
They said they never would have guessed the pandemic would make homes sales skyrocket.
But that’s what sales did.
“We were all thinking, ‘Oh my god, we’re not going to be able to build any homes,'” said Moses Mostaghasi, of MPM Homes Inc. “And as people realized that they need to be at home, stay at home, lifestyles probably have changed. Mindsets have changed.”
“People are investing in their life and their future by purchasing homes more than ever. So the housing market has not slowed down. During the pandemic, it’s probably only picked up.”
Even with a three-month shut down, nearly 1,200 more homes were sold — a total of 6,985 — in the Corpus Christi metropolitan statistical area in 2020, compared with 5,809 homes in 2019.
The median price of homes also jumped by roughly 13 percent, from $200,000 in 2019 to $225,000 in 2020.
That means the average family in Corpus Christi can’t afford the average-priced home, said Iain Vasey, president/CEO of the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corp. The median household income in Corpus Christi is $56,333, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“Can we say $60,000 a year buy the median house using traditional financing? And they can’t,” Vasey said.
That’s not all the tight market has caused. Builders can’t keep up with the high demand for new houses. COVID-19 challenges are a big part of that.
First reported by the Corpus Christi Caller Times. Read More…