Date Archives: August 2018

                                                                                                                                          Source: Metrostudy Inc.

Tech, finance, transportation — Dallas-Fort Worth has a lot of industry stars. But when it comes to the homebuilding sector, North Texas is the country's undisputed king. D-FW continued to top the U.S. home construction rankings at midyear. With 36,264 home starts in the 12 months ending with the second quarter, D-FW far surpassed other big American housing markets for total production, according to a new report by housing analyst Metrostudy Inc.  D-FW builders are starting about 40 percent more homes than in the Atlanta and Phoenix metro areas and almost 70 percent more than in Denver.  D-FW home starts rose 12.7 percent annually in the just-released second-quarter housing comparison.  North Texas has been a leading U.S. housing market since the end of the Great Recession."We will continue to secure the top position for the next few years," said Metrostudy's regional director Paige Shipp. "During the past 12 months, we started 6,300 more new homes than Houston [the No. 2 U.S. market], and our growth pace is twice that of Houston. "Coupled with the fact that D-FW builders and developers are finally cracking the 'affordable new home code,' I expect that D-FW will be the most active new-home market for the foreseeable future."

• Dallas Morning News, August 23, 2018

Dallas-Fort Worth house price appreciation was at the lowest level in seven years in a benchmark new housing report. D-FW median home prices were up 5.1 percent in the second quarter compared to a year ago, according to the latest estimates by the National Association of Realtors.That's less than the nationwide increase of 5.3 percent in the second quarter compared to a year earlier, the Realtors said. A year ago home prices in North Texas were rising at almost twice this summer's percentage rate.  But a slowdown in sales, rising inventories and higher mortgage costs have cooled the rate of appreciation this year in D-FW.  Home sales prices in the area were still at record levels in the second quarter: $268,200 according to the Realtors. Nationwide median prices were a smidge higher at $269,000. Prices rose year-over-year in 90 percent of the 178 cities the Realtors surveyed in the second quarter. The Realtors estimate that D-FW home sales prices have risen by almost 50 percent since 2013. Preowned home sales in the area at midyear were just barely ahead of where they were in June 2017, and sales were down in many D-FW neighborhoods.

• Dallas Morning News, August 23, 2018

There's a new sign in the North Texas housing market — "Reduced Price." Almost 19 percent of the homes listed for sale in Dallas-Fort Worth cut price at least once, according to a new report from Zillow. With home sales slowing and housing prices growing at a much slower rate than in recent years, sellers are sometimes overreaching with their asking prices, real estate agents say. And houses that sit on the market for too long often get a price reboot. The rate of home price cuts in D-FW is higher than the nationwide rate of 14 percent in June, according to Zillow. 

"The housing market has tilted sharply in favor of sellers over the past two years, but there are very early preliminary signs that the winds may be starting to shift ever-so-slightly," Zillow senior economist Aaron Terrazas said in a new report. "A rising share of on-market listings are seeing price cuts, though these price cuts are concentrated at the most expensive price-points and primarily in markets that have seen outsized price gains in recent years. "It's far too soon to call this a buyer's market, home values are still expected to appreciate at double their historic rate over the next 12 months, but the frenetic pace of the housing market over the past few years is starting to return toward a more normal trend."

• Dallas Morning News, August 23, 2018