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MARKET SNAPSHOT See how Spring and Klein’s housing market has performed since 2021.
Spring/Klein Spring/Klein/ Tomball Champions
but now home prices are settling again,” Davis said. A May 19 analysis from Redn, a real estate rm, shows Houston is one of the four major metros nationwide where buying a typical home is more aordable than renting one. The analysis cited a lower cost of living and lower property values compared to other cities. Proposing aordable housing About 12%—or 45,061 residents— living in the nine ZIP codes comprising the Spring and Klein communities live below the poverty level, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Community Survey’s 2021 ve- year estimates. To aid low-income residents living in the Spring area, two developers hope to provide aordable living options. Lincoln Avenue Capital has plans to open a senior aordable housing complex called Oakwood Trails by the rst quarter of 2026, according to a July 12 email from the developer. The project will be located near Louetta Road and Dover Mills Drive in Spring. Meanwhile, Pedcor Investments is planning Willow Creek Manor— an aordable housing project to be located at Hufsmith-Kohrville and Cossey roads. Pedcor opted not to comment on the project. LAC has been open to hearing concerns and changing aspects of the project to put the community at ease, according to a February newsletter from state Rep. Sam Harless, R¤Spring. Developers reduced the number of apartments in the complex from 254 to 203, lowered some of its buildings by a story and limited the age of residents to 62 and older. Construction on the complex is slated to begin in the rst quarter of 2024. To encourage developers to build aordable housing, the state oers the Housing Tax Credit Program, which gives companies building such projects a reduction in their federal taxes, according to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Aairs’ website. The two types of program tax credits are 9% and 4%, which have dierent requirements and tax osets. LAC’s project is a 4% tax credit application, according to Harless’ newsletter. Aordable housing projects are not viewed positively by all Spring- area residents and representatives,
ASKING FOR ASSISTANCE Local nonprot Northwest Assistance Ministries oers an array of programs to help community members struggling to pay for housing. Mortgage/rental assistance Details: Every other Thursday, NAM selects from completed applications. Requirements: Proof of need must be provided at least 45 days before payment is due, and applicant must live in NAM service ZIP code. How to apply: Fill out an application at www.namonline.org/intake. Housing services Details: Programs such as indenite stay housing options and rental arrear services are available. Requirements: Available to individuals experiencing homelessness or at risk for entering a shelter. Requirements vary per program but include disability documentation and assessment at Houston’s Coalition for the Homeless Coordinated Access site. How to apply: Visit www.namonline. org/housing for details. however. Valoree Swanson, R¤Spring, has worked to stop all applications for 9% housing projects in her district, she said in a June 22 statement. State Rep. “While the goal of providing aord- able housing is laudable, the govern- ment should not hurt local property values and provide sweetheart deals to luxury apartment complexes at the expense of taxpayers,” Swanson said in the statement. Some proposed aordable housing projects for Spring have been canceled. In March, KCG Companies opted not to pursue an unnamed 60-unit apartment project after expected state housing tax credit funding fell through, said CJ Linter, vice president of development. The project was slated for Schroeder Road and Middlebury Lane. “We view the aordable housing program … as a critical building block and steppingstone for people moving through their own career journeys and life journeys and making sure people have a good place to be in their community,” Linter said. In January 2022, LDG Development
KUYKENDAHL RD.
249
99 TOLL
45
1960
SPRING CYPRESS RD.
N
AVERAGE HOME PRICES The average local home price has remained above $300,000 in Spring this year.
Jan. 2021 - April 2023
+38% +43%
$400K
+32%
$300K
$200K
$0
HOME SALES Home sales spiked briey in February after trending downward in mid 2022.
50 100 200 150
0
SOURCE: TEXAS REAL ESTATE RESEARCH CENTERCOMMUNITY IMPACT
price for single-family homes in Houston—$2,255 per month—only rose by 0.67% since May 2022; however, it remains 20.3% higher than in May 2019. Local families are struggling with the cost of their mortgages and rent, said Brian Carr, chief advancement ocer for Spring-area nonprot Northwest Assistance Ministries. More than 300 families applied for rent and mortgage assistance through NAM during the rst week of June when typically, Carr said, the nonprot sees 110 requests per week. “The economic hardships that these families were seeing … even continued to worsen after the pandemic,” Carr said. “So these families are really going through a three-year—going on four-year—added struggle to what
according to the June 14 HAR report. Local real estate agents said the increase in interest rates to above 6% for a 30-year mortgage—which occurred in September for the rst time since 2008, according to Freddie Mac data—may have caused prospective homebuyers to hold o on purchases. Sales for single-family homes in the Spring area decreased about 45% year over year as of April, according to the Texas Real Estate Research Center. Compared to April 2021, home sales dropped by about 50%. Meanwhile, demand for rental homes, townhomes and condominiums spiked by an average of 19% year-over-year for May in the Greater Houston area, according to HAR. Holly Davis has lived in the Spring area since the 1980s, she said. A homeowner for decades, Davis became a renter for the rst time about 2 1/2 years ago. “Prices … got so high for a while it was almost the same to rent or buy,
their life already was.” Rental demand surges
Hikes in mortgage interest rates have been a “major deterrent” to homebuying in Houston and across the U.S. beginning in late 2022,
SOURCE: NORTHWEST ASSISTANCE MINISTRIES COMMUNITY IMPACT
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