Houston home prices break records, but they're still low

So things are looking pretty good for the local real estate market: Last month, the average single-family home price in Houston topped $200,000 for the first time. The average price for a single-family house in May was $204,005, up 8.2 percent over last year's average, the Houston Association of Realtors reports. Meanwhile, the median home price in Houston also reached a record $152,000. (In case you're wondering, yes, that is much less than the national median of $222,700. Even with the increases, houses around here remain really cheap.)

HAR chairwoman Lorraine Abercrombie gushed about the numbers: "While the rest of the country is talking about bubbles deflating, we continue to reach new heights in the Greater Houston real estate market ... These numbers are definitely good news for our area," she told the Houston Business Journal. And that's true, of course, for real estate agents and people whose homes are appreciating in value — but for people who are house shopping, the escalating prices don't necessarily make things easier. It's all part of being a world-class city, we suppose.

All this made Houstonist wonder exactly what you can get in Houston for about $200K. Turns out you can make some potentially good investments inside the Loop, like this restored Heights bungalow or this one. If you've got a little elbow grease to spare, you could pick fixer-uppers like this potentially cool '20s brick house near Woodland Heights, a cottage in the up-and-coming First Ward or this house off Washington and Shepherd, where a townhome developer might buy you out for a boatload of money someday. If the drapes and couches are included, we're so there.