Bob Edmonson's Dallas TX Property Values Blog: Dallas Home Sales Stats for February

February was another strong month for sales in Dallas, helping to lend more credence to the current thought, not just mine, that the housing market has turned the corner. I speculated about this last month, as buyers were out in force in January, normally a pretty crummy month for home sales. Overall sales in Dallas were up 27% in February vs year ago, the biggest rise in 6 months, and 20% year to date. Reasons range from an improvement in consumer sentiment and growing optimism about the job market to the undisputable truth that mortgage interest rates might never be this low again in our lifetimes. And the weather was pretty decent, too, not only in Dallas, but in most of the nation. The press has been latching on to this, so there is a good chance you are reading more uplifting stories or seeing more encouraging reports online and on tv. Some of the news included a 16.3% increase in housing starts over year ago numbers for the DFW area, according to the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, and a drop of 20% in home foreclosure filings in DFW, according to CoreLogic, the 13th consecutive month foreclosure filings have been lower than the year before.

RISMedia stated this month that seller's asking prices have gone "positive" on a year-to-year basis for the first time in six years. This is particularly good news, as Dallas median sales prices for the overall market have been pretty flat or down a percent or two the last few years. Possibly spurring this on is the 29.7% drop in the months' supply of inventory/homes for sale, this February vs year ago. Overall Dallas inventory is 5.2 months, down from 7.4 months in February a year ago. We are still seeing a little imbalance with demand exceeding supply the first two months of the year. We are seeing mulitiple offers on lots of properties, with Realtors tweeting the need to find "hip pockets", soon-to-be-listed homes. This demand will likely continue to be strong (I am always optimistic!), but I think we'll see more homes coming to market as sellers gain confidence in the market's strength and pricing stability.

Already, mortgage interest rates, which move with the 10-year Treasury bond, are inching upward, up 0.375 points from early February to 4.0% for the 30-year note as I write this. This time, this move might stick. No one knows, but the ingredients are there for a bottoming out of interest rates, and we might have just been there. With the bulk of the spring market still ahead, we will have a pretty good idea of how this year will turn out in another 60-90 days.

Here are the details for single family homes and condo/townhome sales in selected areas. For a more comprehensive look at any one market, give me a call at my Allie Beth Allman office or on my cell, 214-563-8540. Scroll down for the "Sales by Price Category" info. DOM is short for Days on Market. Median Price pertains to sales occurring in the period(s).

Overall Market (North Texas):
Feb 12 vs 11: Sales up 27%, med price up 1%, DOM 91, down 5%.
YTD 12 vs 11: Sales up 20%, med price unchanged, DOM 91, down 5%.

Uptown, Downtown and Turtle Creek (Condos and Townhomes):
Feb 12 vs 11: Sales up 33%, med price down 3%, DOM 118, down 28%.
YTD 12 vs 11: Sales up 14%, med price down 7%, DOM 123, down 20%.

Highland Park and University Park, Bluffview, Devonshire and Greenway Parks:
Feb 12 vs 11: Sales up 24%, med price down 4%, DOM 96, down 9%.
YTD 12 vs 11: Sales up 19%, med price up 15%, DOM 96, down 16%.

East Dallas (incl M's and Lakewood):
Feb 12 vs 11: Sales up 56%, med price up 36%, DOM 109, up 5%.
YTD 12 vs 11: Sales up 34%, med price up 19%, DOM 103, down 6%.

North Dallas (South of LBJ):
Feb 12 vs 11: Sales up 48%, med price down 21%, DOM 146, down 26%.
YTD 12 vs 11: Sales up 44%, med price down 22%, DOM 131, down 20%.

Far North Dallas (incl Addison and to Park Blvd in Plano):
Feb 12 vs 11: Sales up 49%, med price down 10%, DOM 88, unchanged.
YTD 12 vs 11: Sales up 29%, med price down 8%, DOM 90, up 5%.

Northwest Dallas:
Feb 12 vs 11: Sales up 14%, med price up 66%, DOM 87, down 10%.
YTD 12 vs 11: Sales up 38%, med price up 19%, DOM 91, down 5%.

Northeast Dallas (incl Lake Highlands):
Feb 12 vs 11: Sales up 72%, med price down 2%, DOM 100, up 23%.
YTD 12 vs 11: Sales up 35%, med price down 7%, DOM 87, down 9%.

Plano:
Feb 12 vs 11: Sales up 30%, med price up 5%, DOM 86, up 1%.
YTD 12 vs 11: Sales up 17%, med price up 6%, DOM 84, down 6%.

Frisco:
Feb 12 vs 11: Sales down 16%, med price up 7%, DOM 87, down 11%.
YTD 12 vs 11: Sales up 1%, med price up 7%, DOM 85, down 13%.

Richardson:
Feb 12 vs 11: Sales up 2%, med price up 9%, DOM 72, down 12%.
YTD 12 vs 11: Sales up 7%, med price up 11%, DOM 85, up 5%.

Southlake:
Feb 12 vs 11: Sales up 43%, med price down 3%, DOM 93, down 3%.
YTD 12 vs 11: Sales up 40%, med price down 5%, DOM 94, down 9%.

Coppell:
Feb 12 vs 11: Sales up 24%, med price up 34%, DOM 105, up 22%.
YTD 12 vs 11: Sales down 4%, med price up 16%, DOM 89, down 5%.

Allen:
Feb 12 vs 11: Sales up 28%, med price down 16%, DOM 79, down 26%.
YTD 12 vs 11: Sales up 13%, med price down 4%, DOM 88, down 4%.

Rockwall (incl Heath):
Feb 12 vs 11: Sales up 4%, med price down 11%, DOM 102, down 16%.
YTD 12 vs 11: Sales up 19%, med price down 11%, DOM 100, down 12%.

Here is a look at Single Family home sales by price category for YTD 2012 vs 2011:

$200-299K (16.8% of sales): up 27%, 7 months inventory
$300-399K (6.7% of sales): up 7%, 10 months inventory
$400-499K (2.6% of sales): up 29%, 13 months inventory
$500-599K (1.4% of sales): down 6%, 14 months inventory
$600-699K (0.8% of sales): up 10%, 17 months inventory
$700-799K (0.4% of sales): down 27%, 25 months inventory
$800-899K (0.3% of sales): up 29%, 22 months inventory
$900-999K (0.2% of sales): down 11%, 25 months inventory
$1MM and up (0.9% of sales): up 25%, 24 months inventory

Here is a look at Condos and Townhomes sales by price category for YTD 2012 vs 2011.

$200-299K (17.4% of sales): 88 units vs 48 units year ago, 9 months inventory
$300-399K (2.6% of sales): 13 units vs 23 units year ago, 30 months
$400-499K (3.6% of sales): 18 units vs 10 units year ago, 12 months
$500-599K (2.2% of sales): 11 units vs 4 units year ago, 16 months
$600-699K (0.2% of sales): 1 unit vs 1 unit year ago, 44 months
$700-799K (0.2% of sales): 1 unit vs 1 unit year ago, 52 months
$800-899K (0.2% of sales): 1 unit vs 2 units year ago, 54 months
$900-999K (0.0% of sales): 1 unit vs 0 units year ago, 30 months
$1MM + (0.2% of sales): 1 units vs 1 units year ago, 136 months

Bob Edmonson
Allie Beth Allman & Assoc.
(214)563-8540

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