Home prices as high as the temperature in Dallas

29.07.2015

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The only thing hotter than a Dallas sidewalk this summer are Dallas home prices. Tight supply of listings pushed prices dramatically higher in June, despite slower sales.

"A lot of people who have homes who have decided they need to stay put because it's more expensive to buy. Maybe they'll just put money into their home," said Laura Barnett, a Re/Max Broker Associate in the Dallas area.

The median price of a home sold in Dallas County in June hit $208,000, up 15 percent from a year ago. Closed sales, however, fell 5.4 percent on the year. The culprit, as is the case in so much of the nation now, is supply. Inventory in Dallas was nearly 20 percent lower in June than a year ago, pushing the supply of homes for sale to just 2.2 months. Normal supply is considered to be about six months.

Barnett says anything priced under $250,000 will get at least a dozen offers. Cash is king, and first-time buyers are pushed out by investors and those with higher down payments.

"FHA loans don't even stand a chance in our market," Barnett said.

The Dallas housing market, like much of Texas, is benefiting from an influx of jobs. The energy sector may have had a rough time this year in Texas, with falling oil prices, but other fields, such as technology and health care, are making up for a lot of the losses.

"North Texas is adding tens of thousands of people from all over the world every year," Steve Habgood, president of MetroTex Association of Realtors, said in a recent report. "Spring and early summer are typically very active times in the market, and the influx of so many newcomers to the area has really pushed the market to a new level."

Texas is also seeing big growth in demand from Chinese buyers.

"They are everywhere," said Barnett. "They pick major metropolitan areas. There is not a lot of risk involved here. You know the job growth is going to be there."