It’s a tough time to be a prospective homebuyer in Dallas-Fort Worth, as well as most of Texas and much of the U.S.
Soaring demand for new and existing homes and historically low interest rates have houses flying off the market. A COVID-related hesitancy to put existing homes on the market isn’t helping matters, either, and homebuilders are facing shortages of materials and vacant lots on which to build.
The DFW existing home market has dramatically fewer homes available to buyers than it did a year ago. According to the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University, through the end of November, the supply of active listings in DFW fell to just 13,368 homes, an extremely tight 1.4-month supply. A 6-month supply is considered balanced. For comparison, in November 2019, there were 20,040 listings.
Meanwhile, for the 12-month period ending Nov. 30, 2020, DFW had 111,092 existing home sales, an 8.5-percent increase over the previous 12-month period, according to the A&M Real Estate Center.
For 2021, the Texas Real Estate Research Center forecasts that DFW single-family home sales will increase by 7.3 percent over the number sold in 2020, according to the January edition of Texas Housing Insight.
New home sales in Dallas-Fort Worth peaked in December, according to a report from HomesUSA.com, based on 12-month moving averages. New homes in DFW sat on the market for roughly two days fewer in December than they did in November as inventory continued to tighten.
The housing shortage shows no signs of ending anytime soon. Declining home inventories in DFW and nationwide date back to 2016.
One question: how long this market can be sustained?
Excerpts from an article in Business Journal.
