Area housing market ticks downward after years-long surge

by Rhett Morgan of the Tulsa World

Despite climbing interest rates and an inflation rate that jolted everyone’s cost of living, the area’s housing market fared well this past year.

“2022 was still a strong year for housing starts in Tulsa,” said Jeffrey Smith, executive vice president and CEO of the Home Builders Association of Greater Tulsa. “It seems like the traffic is still out and interested in purchasing and building homes.”

Housing starts for the Tulsa metro totaled 3,186 in 2022, down 20% from 2021, according to the HBAGreater Tulsa. The previous two years had recorded increases of 15% and 20%, respectively.

The average sale price of homes in the Tulsa area was $288,071, up 10% over last year and up 24.2% over the past two years, according to the MLS (multiple listing service) database. Closed listings, however, were down in the metro area, dipping from 17,842 in 2021 to 15,250 in 2022.

A month ago at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) International Builders Show in Las Vegas, NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz outlined the state of the industry nationally.

He said the housing downturn that started last year, exacerbated by elevated inflation and mortgage rates, will continue for part of 2023. Dietz added that a turnaround is expected, however.

“With interest rates projected to normalize in the second half of 2023 as the Federal Reserve taps the brakes in its fight against inflation, the pace of singlefamily construction will bottom out in the first half of 2023 and begin to improve in the latter part of the year,” he said at the event.