DFW Hits Record Home Prices in 2018, Report Reveals

Home sales fell in North Texas in the fourth quarter of 2018, Dallas-Fort Worth hit record home prices last year, and the Arlington Black Chamber of Commerce will hold its Hard Hat Construction Expo — and we have all this and more in this week’s roundup of real estate news.

Area Home Sales Fall in 4Q 2018

While the median home price grew, home sales in North Texas fell 7.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018, a report by Texas A&M’s Real Estate Center said.

Area home sales fell to 22,402 transactions, while the median home price grew 2.4 percent over the year to $260,000. Months of inventory rose 32.5 percent to 2.5 months, and residential property listings increased to 29.4 percent in 2018 to 20,627 listings.

Sales of homes between $200,000 and $250,000 dipped from 4,520 to 4,497, while homes between $300,000 and $400,000 dipped from 4,494 to 4,274, and homes between $150,000 and $200,000 dipped from 4,309 to 3,713.

However, those dips in the $200k to $250k and $150k to $200k price points may be because of a real lack of inventory, with only 1.68 months of inventory for the former point, and 1.34 months in the latter.

The median price of newly constructed single-family homes fell by .6 percent to $327,960.

Arlington Black Chamber of Commerce to Hold Hard Hat Expo

The Arlington Black Chamber of Commerce is hosting what they’re billing as the “largest construction business expo in the Southwest connecting owners and general contractors with certified minority-owned construction businesses,” on March 5, from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Eddie Deen’s Ranch at 944 S. Lamar St. in Dallas.

The event will also offer round table meetings and other networking opportunities and includes dinner.

For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

Home Sellers Saw 2018 Average Home Price Gain at 12-Year High

Home sellers in 2018 saw their homes increase in value by an average of $61,000 from the original purchase price, a 12-year high, ATTOM Data Solutions’ 2018 U.S. Home Sales Report revealed.

In 2017 that number was $50,000, and two years ago it was $39,500. That $61,000 profit is about an average 32.6 percent ROI compared to the original purchase price, up from 27 percent in 2017.

“While 2018 was the most profitable time to sell a home in more than 12 years, those along the coasts, reaped the most gains. However, those are the same areas where homeowners are staying put longer,” Todd Teta, chief product officer at ATTOM Data Solutions, said in a statement. “The economy is still going strong and home loan rates remain historically low. But there are potential clouds on the horizon. The effects of last year’s tax cuts are wearing off as limits on homeowner tax deductions are in place and mortgage rates are ticking up ever so slowly, so this could dampen the potential for home price gains in 2019.”

Locally, Dallas-Fort Worth was one of 88 of 127 metros that reached new record home price peaks in 2018.

Texas was also a hot spot for FHA loans, with 6 out of the top 10 metro areas with the highest share of FHA sales coming from Texas, including McAllen (26.3 percent); El Paso (25.3 percent); Amarillo (23.0 percent); and Beaumont-Port Arthur (22.7 percent).

Nationally, buyers using FHA loans accounted for 10.6 percent of all single-family home and condo purchases last year.

Another Way of Looking at Home Sales

well, here’s another way of looking at existing home sales pic.twitter.com/E8HV8jTpJ4

— Leonard Kiefer (@lenkiefer) January 22, 2019