Real estate
BY COLBY FARR & CARSON WEAVER
Home Edition
2024
Readers, welcome to your annual CI Home Edition! This guide features news ranging from key real estate trends and new developments unique to your neighborhood to an overview of the housing industry across Texas. All of the stories were written by our team of local journalists, and all of the advertisements are from nearby businesses who support our mission to provide free, useful news—show them your gratitude by supporting local businesses. Stories in the guide range from property value appraisals in Fort Bend County to Missouri City’s first build-to-rent community, which are single-family developments purely for renters. Our cover story this month focuses on the thousands of apartments set to break ground in Sugar Land and Missouri City over the next five years. Our team interviewed demographers, multifamily experts, city officials and developers to give you a snapshot of what’s happening in the area’s multifamily housing sector. Susan Cates, demographer with Population and Survey Analysts, said Fort Bend ISD is 89% built out. With limited land available, Cates said it’s likely we’ll see more multifamily developments fill in pockets of land to meet the demand of people moving to the area. See Page 18 for a look at where the construction is coming locally.
What's inside
Real estate market data for Sugar Land, Missouri City (Page 13)
Kelly Schafler Senior Editor kschafler@ communityimpact.com
Inspire Homes opens city's 1st single-family rental project (Page 16)
Property values rise across Fort Bend County (Page 17)
Multiple Listing Service rules changing
Stay tuned
For real estate associations affiliated with the NAR, the changes must be implemented in August, per a May 3 news release. After the policy changes take effect, a final approval hearing for the settlement is scheduled for later in November.
A $418 million settlement with the National Association of Realtors in March may impact fees for buyers, sellers and real estate agents, starting in August. The settlement—brought on by class-action lawsuits alleging brokerages inflated buyer- seller commissions—will force the NAR to make policy changes to Multiple Listing Services, online platforms where real estate agents list homes. “[The MLS] gives you all the details of the home—what year it was built, square footage, how many rooms, room sizes,” said Thomas Mouton, chair of the Houston Association of Realtors. According to the settlement, sellers will pay smaller commissions and buyers will decide how much their agents are paid, among other changes. “When an agent searches for a home for their client, [the MLS tells] you what the listing agent is actually offering for compensation,” Mouton said. “Now, that will not be displayed anywhere on the site.”
Updated MLS policies The changes outlined by the NAR settlement in March that go into effect in August include:
“Houston is going to be affected like everyone else because it’s a national settlement,” Mouton said. “We’re no different than any other state.”
Listing agents can no longer make compensation offers to buyer agents on the MLS.
MLS participants can’t filter or restrict listings to clients based on the level of compensation offered to the agent.
2024
March 15: Settlement agreement signed April 24: Preliminary approval of settlement review granted by the court Aug. 17: Practice changes take effect; earliest day for lawsuit notifications to be issued to those impacted Nov. 26: Final approval hearing for the settlement
Compensation disclosures to sellers, and prospective sellers and buyers, are required.
MLS users must enter an agreement with buyers before home tours.
SOURCE: NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS/COMMUNITY IMPACT
SOURCE: NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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