Sizzling Dallas Real Estate Report: Market Scene is Flying High, High-Fiving 2006!

We have been telling you this for months now: home prices around North Texas have never been higher. Sales of pre-owned home in the first half of 2013 are running more than 20 percent higher than in the same period of 2012. In fact, that is a new North Texas sales record for a single six-month period.

Deja vue 2006!

Steve Brown says, and I agree, that some Dallas neighborhoods are experiencing the largest home price gains this area has seen since the early 1980s. Park Cities would be one, Lakewood two, Bluffview three, Preston Hollow four, and Frisco, yes Frisco, five.

And it looks like prices will continue to rise, at least until next year, even with creeping mortgage rates that mostly affect home sales below a million. Why is our market doing so well while others are not?

Jobs and our strong Texas economy.

“The increase of sales we are seeing is a pure function of economics,” said Ted Jones, chief economist for Stewart Title Co. “This is not false hopes.”

When people move into an area, they need a place to live. D/FW created 104,600 new jobs in the last 12 months, said Jones, which led to 34,720 residential building permits being issued. Jones also says we could have built twice as many home and apartments and still not overbuilt this market.

That’s because we have a shortage of homes for sale. Builders froze during the deep recession, and financing was scarce. Which has led to our dwindling home inventory: 1.5 to 3 month supplies of homes for sale. Normal is considered 6 months.

And according to Core-Logic, WE are back to our pre-2006 price value levels. That means that if you purchased your home at the tip top of the market in 2006, your values have more or less inched back up there, depending, of course, on the condition of your home. Interesting to see that even the pricey highly sought markets like San Francisco and Boston, have still not reached 2006 levels. But Dallas Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and South Dakota are back to 2006 levels while every other state is in the negative, still!

All this makes people here feel more secure. Rich, even. And it spurs some people to sell.

If folks are selling in higher priced states and moving here, they almost have an “O” when they see what all their money can buy. James Gaines over at Texas A&M says our advantage is and always has been our reasonably priced homes:

“Texas enjoys a comparative housing advantage to other high-growth states,” said James Gaines, an economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. “Prices here are significantly below those in other states that people are now leaving.”

The median Dallas pre-owned sales price is now close to $186,000. The median cost of a home in Frisco is a sweet spot of about $280,000 to $300,000, a community where most transplants settle. A whole world of outsiders is moving there, says Redfin agent Connie Durnal, who specializes in Frisco sales. They do their research on the web and they land on Frisco.

“It has proximity to downtown Dallas and D/FW, the infrastructure, the schools, ” says Durnal. “You can buy a home in Frisco for $125,000 or pay over a million dollars.”

Transplants from other more congested parts of the U.S. don’t fret over the commute to downtown Dallas, says Connie. Some may be more interested in D/FW than downtown, like the pilot she just helped snag a home in Little Elm.

Yes, even Little Elm is hot again.

As for the luxury market, it’s cooking, too, if homes are well-priced and attractive. Let’s look at 4815 Royal Lane as a great example. I loved this house so much when I wrote about it, it truly reminds me of the “Home Alone” house. It is on Royal Lane, true, but the setback and generous lot more than make up for any busy street negativity. The 6871 square foot home was built in 1985 but, like Demi Moore, was kept up beautifully and very open to younger lovers owners. The walk-in master closet rivals those I’ve seen in $10 million dollar homes. Originally listed at $1,695,000, Doris Jacobs just sold it for $1.460,000. Perfect example, this home.

That, my dear readers, is the story of Dallas luxury real estate, at least this week!