July Home Sales Down by Double Digits in North Texas

Drive into most North Texas suburbs and exurbs, and you’ll see builders busy creating new inventory in developments throughout northern Collin County and in towns east of Dallas. Current development is healthy right now.

However, sales of existing single-family homes — you know, the ones that don’t have the new-house smell of fresh lumber and paint — are seeing dramatic declines year over year, according to the MetroTex Association of Realtors’ July housing report. According to the report, all 14 counties in Grapevine-based MetroTex’s purview experienced sales declines in 2020.

Ellis County home sales declined by more than 30 percent and Rockwall County home sales fell more than 28 percent year-over-year. Dallas County was down 13.2 percent. Tarrant County had the most sales at 2,793, but it was a 15.8 percent decline from a year ago.

As a region, North Texas reported 17 percent fewer single-family home sales than July 2020.

Of course, this is nothing new. The indicators have been the same for a few months now: low inventory, higher home prices, and fewer listings.

If you’re a buyer, you’re getting in when the market is high, but mortgage rates are at record lows.

If you’re a seller, the news is mostly good. Your home’s value continues to climb.

In Collin County, prices rose 23.3 percent from a year earlier to a record $450,000. In Denton County, prices increased 21 percent to $405,900. Nationally, the median sales price of single-family existing homes rose 22.9 percent to $357,900, according to the National Association of Realtors’ latest quarterly report released last week. Sales price increased in 99 percent of the 183 metro areas tracked by NAR.

“Home price gains and the accompanying housing wealth accumulation have been spectacular over the past year, but are unlikely to be repeated in 2022,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. “There are signs of more supply reaching the market and some tapering of demand. The housing market looks to move from ‘super hot’ to ‘warm’ with markedly slower price gains.”

Check the MetroTex report here.https://www.mymetrotex.com/market-reports/ | Also: The North Texas Real Estate Information System Summary MLS Report