Myers Jackson Talks About the Texas Real Estate Market

           MYERS JACKSON TALK ABOUT the TEXAS REAL ESTATE MARKET

Texas Real Estate Market

Texas Real Estate Market…Every so often, Texas A&M University’s Real Estate Center releases a report on how the real estate market is doing in Texas. The main points covered are Supply, Demand, and Cost. Due to the government shut down at the beginning of the year, market data was not released to the public, and A&M was not able to update past November 2018.

If we take a look at the national trends for housing, published by the National Association of Realtors, housing sales have “decreased 6.4 percent from November to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.99 million in December.” Sales dropped 10.3 percent from last year’s 5.56 million home sales. The national median for home prices is hovering around $253,000 (this number has increased from the average in 2017). Homes are becoming more expensive, but nationally, they are not selling as fast as we would like.

The good news is that the housing market in Dallas- Fort Worth is booming. Texas has seen a faster job growth that the rest of the country. Non- Farm employment in Texas has increased by 3.2% vs the national average has only increased by 1.9%. Private sector employment in Texas has increased by 3.7%– the national average by 2%.

Supply, Demand, and Price

Sales were slow early in 2018, “but the Texas months of inventory (MOI) remained below four months. Around six months of inventory is considered a balanced housing market.” The MOI reached YTD, but nowhere near enough to replenish the market. Homes are becoming scarce in Dallas, but the demand is not. Demand for homes above $400, 000 did see a 1.1% dip from October 2018 to December 2018, but homes valued below 400k saw an increase.

Robust economic growth and the healthy labor market held Texas’ average days on market (DOM) below two months as homes continued to sell at a rapid clip. The DOM trended similarly at 60 days in Austin while averaging 57 and 58 days in Houston and San Antonio, respectively. The rate of sales growth continued to calm in North Texas, providing homebuyers some much-needed breathing room.

The Dallas DOM is only at 48 days. Homes are selling rapidly in the metroplex. As far as home values go, Dallas is seeing an increase in home values. The Texas median home price hit a record high at $235,727. Whereas the Dallas median increased to $288,468; Fort Worth’s dropped to $233,258.

If there was ever a time to buy, it is now. DFW has a booming economy, and hundreds of companies look to the metroplex for expansion. The jobs are coming here and so are home buyers. If you’re a seller, the market is in your favor. Buyers will see more and more competition as the number of available homes shrink.