In Houston, sales continued to be sluggish.  Overall property sales were down 16% last month when compared to December 2007 and sales of single-family homes were down 13.5% according to new monthly data from the Houston Association of Realtors. 

These figures show a dramatic improvement from November, when both the total property and single-family sales volume declined by more than 30%.

The average price for a single-family home in Houston dropped 10.4% last month to $192,135 compared to December 2007, but on a year-to-date basis rose 1% to 208,266.  The median price for a single-family home in December was $145,000, fell 6.1% year-over-year.  On a year-to-date basis, the median price was unchanged at $152,000.

 Total dollar volume for properties sold during December totalled $960 million versus 1.2 billion one year earlier, this translates into a 24.5% decline.  Full year 2008 sales of just under 70,000 properties produced $14 billion in total dollar volume. 

With Mortgage rates in the 4-5.5% range now is a great time to be buying a home.  15yr fixed rate mortgage that is no more than 25% of your take-home pay with no points.