Dallas County Posts Some of the Highest In-and-Out Migration Numbers

How many people are coming — and leaving — Dallas County? Has there been a local shift to more affordable new homes? What local journalist has been tapped to be a keynote speaker at a financial services conference?

We have all this in this week’s roundup of real estate news.

Dallas County Posts Some of the Highest In-and-Out Migration Numbers

Texas has the second-highest domestic in-and-out migration in the country — and Dallas County and Harris County have some of the biggest influxes of new residents, new U.S. Census data revealed last week.

The 2017 American Community Survey revealed that Dallas and Harris counties had some of the highest inbound migration numbers, with 117,129 moving to Dallas County and 175,286 moving to Harris County.

However, the two counties also had some of the highest numbers of people moving away, too, with 134,843 moving from Dallas County and 168,936 moving away from Harris County.

On a statewide basis, 524,511 people moved to Texas from other states, and 63,200 of them came from California. Texas, in return, provided California with about 41,000 new residents, and had the second-highest out-bound migration, with 467,338 people moving away.

Source: U.S Census Bureau

DFW Builders Shift to More Affordable Homes

Although Dallas is keeping its position as the top market for new home starts in the U.S., quarterly starts are down 1.4 percent from first quarter 2018 levels, Metrostudy’s 2019 first quarter report revealed.

DFW’s median new home price has also dropped, but analysts believe this decrease isn’t because homes are becoming devalued, but rather that buyers are looking for smaller homes with more affordable price points.

“To address affordability concerns, developers need to winnow lot sizes,” the report said. “However, many of DFW’s 212 municipalities oppose any sort of density for fear that it will devalue existing homes and burden their infrastructure.”

“What the cities do not recognize is that well-designed, affordable housing strengthens communities by diversifying its demographic composition,” it added.

Locally, builders started 34,361 homes in the last year, with 7,459 starts in Q1 of 2019, a decrease of 7.7 percent compared to the previous quarter.

Weather delays and a cool-down of sales in the last half of 2018 are somewhat to blame as well, and while closings increased by 1.2 percent compared to Q1 2018, the annual rate actually decreased by 0.8 percent. In the last 12 months, DFW closed 32,312 homes. Quarterly closings dropped by 14.9 percent quarter over quarter, but builders are still reporting stronger than anticipated sales in Q1 2019.

“Based on last year’s slowdown, there was concern that the market cooled,” said Paige Shipp, Regional Director of Metrostudy’s Dallas region. “Many builders responded by shifting their product offering to more affordable homes and decreasing base prices. These shifts more closely match DFW’s new homes with what buyers can afford.”

“Additionally, DFW’s median new home price has dropped since last year. The decrease in price is not devaluation; rather it is an indication that buyers are purchasing smaller, more affordable homes,” she continued. “In a market where new and resale price appreciation significantly outpaced wage growth, a lower median price indicates that more homebuyers will be able to afford new homes.”

The median resale price — $251,000 — is one percent higher than last year, Shipp said.

“As the median new home price drops and resale price increases, the delta between new and resale narrows,” she added. “Currently, the difference between the median resale and new home price is 23.1 percent. The greatest difference in price was 50 percent in 2015.”

The report said that 2019 Q1 data shored up the belief that builders are looking at the region’s housing affordability concerns by starting more homes at the $250,000 and $350,000 range than closings, with annual starts outpacing closings by 10.7 percent in that range.

This difference, the study said, shows a higher than market average of starts lapping closings by 6.3 percent, indicating market expansion.

“The greater the delta, the more rapidly the market is expanding,” the report said. “The 10.7 percent delta points to a growing supply of affordably priced homes in DFW.”

Between 2010 and 2017, DFW new home price appreciation eclipsed 67 percent at an annual average rate of 7.7 percent, which was unsustainable, and not conducive to an affordable market.

Source: Metrostudy

WFAA’s Dale Hansen Keynote Speaker for National Financial Services Expo

WFAA’s Dale Hansen will be a keynote speaker at the 2019 National Financial Services Expo, the Council for Inclusion in Financial Services announced last week.

Hansen will speak on June 4 at the event, which will be held June 3-5 in Irving.

“Dale Hansen has a track record of bravely addressing the bold topics of our day, and has shown consistent support of Diversity & Inclusion causes,” said John Darden, CIFS Board President. “We are excited to have his unique brand of intellect and influence as our 2019 FinServ Expo keynote speaker.”

The National Financial Services Expo was created to help the financial services industry attract, retain and sustain an inclusive workforce, increase access to small businesses, promote transformative technology initiatives and educate the public about financial processes, products and services.

It is designed, organizers said, to bring together all the players in finance, from housing and insurance to banking and wealth management.