Prospective D-FW Homebuyers Get Glimmer of Hope From Q3 Housing Report

From Staff Reports

Homebuyers in D-FW got a little relief in Q3, with the Texas Quarterly Housing Report by Texas Realtors showing a slight dip in median price and a spike in active listings.

The median home price in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area ticked down by 0.8% compared to the same quarter in 2023, coming in at $396,870, according to the report. While modest, the decline coincides with the end of a 55-month streak of the metroplex being designated a seller’s market. Zillow’s market heat index marked it neutral in July, August, and September of this year.

On average, D-FW homes spent 82 days on the market this past quarter, nine more than the 73 days clocked in Q3 2023. Year-over-year, active listings increased by 41%, with 30,046 on the books. This put the months of inventory at 4.1. In Q3 2023, there were only 2.8 months of available housing stock.

Skyrocketing Prices

Skyrocketing prices over the last several years have put buyers through the wringer amid a significant lag in homebuilding, not just in D-FW but across the Lone Star State. The median price in Texas shot up by nearly 31% between 2020 and 2022, jumping from $259,990 to $340,000 before easing to $335,100 last year. A housing affordability report by the Texas Comptroller’s Office put the housing unit deficit in 2023 at just over 300,000.

Listings in D-FW during this period were much higher. The median price was $293,000 in 2020. It was $400,000 and $395,000 in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

“In Dallas, affordability is becoming a serious concern,” real estate broker and VA Loan Network founder Levi Rodgers said earlier this month, per GOBankingRates. “High home prices, paired with the current high rates, are leading to fewer buyers in the market. This could result in a price correction over the next 12 months.”

Coming Months Could See Seasonal Slowdown

Whether such a price correction will let more potential buyers into the market remains to be seen. Practically half of Q3 listings in DFW were $400,000 or more. Homes in the $300,000 to $399,999 range made up 28.2% of the listings. Those in the $200,000-299,999 range comprised 18.3%. Homes under $200,000 were few and far between, accounting for less than 5% of listings.

The coming months should see the typical seasonal slowdown as North Texans busy themselves with the holidays, but local real estate agent Todd Luong of RE/MAX DFW Associates expects things to pick up considerably come spring, even if homes are taking a little longer to move.

“I keep telling my clients that having a home on the market for a few weeks is nothing wrong,” Luong told U.S. News & World Report in early October. “I’ve been in real estate for 17 years and lived in Dallas for 40 years. Dallas has always been in a bull market, it feels. Since 2014, prices have gone up every year. Things are finally stabilizing now, which is great because buyers can take a more relaxed approach. They have some time to breathe before making an offer.”

This could mean that sellers will have to be a little more flexible in pricing than they have been in recent years, though probably not by much.

According to the Texas Realtors 2023 Year in Review Report, some 96.2% of homes sold for their original asking price last year.

The D-FW market in the Texas Quarterly Housing Report comprises Dallas County, Collin County, Denton County, and Tarrant County.