Tour today’s best! Especially valuable homes are now listed at unbelievably low prices. Briggs Freeman Real Estate Brokerage invites buyers to browse through the best deals on the market this Sunday, April 11.
To see featured properties and open house times, visit briggsfreeman.com.
Today, North Texans received news that people in many other parts of the country can only dream of hearing. Pre-owned median home prices increased last month from a year earlier. The increase was small – only 1 percent – but significant at a time when numerous other housing markets are still mired in a real estate slump that has sent home prices tumbling.
There was more good news in the new report released by the Real Estate Center at Texas A& M University. About 33,500 homes were listed for sale in North Texas in January – about 10 percent less than the same time last year. That amounts to less than a six-month supply, which many analysts see as a sign of a balanced market.
The current supply of single-family homes is one of the reasons why residential prices are on their way up. As the inventory of homes decreases, an area becomes less of a buyers’ market and prices begin to stabilize. In North Texas, median home prices were flat in 2009 while many other parts of the country saw double-digit declines. In more good news, real estate agent sold 3,300 homes through the Multiple Listing Service last month and 172 condominiums.
In yet another sign that the local housing market is strengthening in 2010, foreclosure postings are way down for the February 2nd auction of homes in the area’s four largest counties. Postings plummeted 20 percent from January in Dallas, Collin, Denton and Tarrant counties, and were down 4 percent from one year ago in Dallas, according to a report released by Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service.
”This decline is welcomed news,” George Roddy Sr., president of the real estate research firm said in a statement. ”While this decline may be what we have been waiting to see, a change for just one month does not establish a new trend. We will just have to wait to see what happens next month.”
February postings in Dallas County fell 19 percent from the January auction, while Collin County posting fell 28 percent, and Denton County postings fell 25 percent. Those three counites were also down compared with a year ago, and all four saw lower filings than two years ago.
If you are getting ready to put your home on the market, it’s more important than ever to make a good first impression. While in some cases, that may involve hiring a professional home stager, it’s not always necessary. In fact, you can prepare your home to show better by following a few simple steps.
Start by depersonalizing the space. Hide your children’s trophies and awards, take down the family pictures, and put away anything else that makes potential buyers feel like they are intruding on your personal space. Here are some other quick tips for getting your home ready to sell fast.
Click here for a complete list of interior and exterior home staging tips.
The Texas economy continues to buck national trends thanks to the strength of the residential real estate market. Four of the nine cities that made the Gadberry Group’s new list of most notable high-growth areas in the nation are in the Lone Star State. Two Dallas suburbs — Frisco and McKinney — also made the list of 25 finalists. Industry research indicates that the state’s comparatively stable housing market is likely a contributing factor in the strong rankings, says Larry Martin, principal of Little Rock-based Gadberry.
Mansfield came in at number seven as the number of households more than doubled in the last nine years. It added 15 percent of its total households last year alone. Also on the list is Wylie, which has had an impressive 163 percent increase in the number of households since 2000. According to the report, most of the new households are located in one of Wylie’s eight “Emerging Blocks.”
Other Texas cities that made the list are Atascocita and Katy, both located near Houston. Here’s the complete list of 9 from 2009:
The latest survey from the National Association of Realtors reports that sales are up in four major regions of the U.S., and scattered markets are even experiencing bidding wars. Realtytimes.com reports, “Sales of single family homes, townhouses, condos, and co-ops surged by a little over 10 percent in October, and were 24 percent above where they were a year before.” Furthermore, closed transactions also have risen significantly: nearly 12% in the Northeast, 14.4% in the Midwest, 12.7% in the South, and 1.6% in the West.
Why the sudden increase in activity?
Several economists believe now is a good time to buy, as prices are flattening out and the housing inventory (now at a 7-month supply) is not far from a balanced market. It is likely that interest rates will rise in the spring if the Fed does indeed phase out its extensive investments in mortgage securities.
Existing home-sales rose 9.4 percent in September, reaching their highest level in almost two years and providing another indicator that the housing market remains on the road to recovery. Though home prices declined, economist Lawerence Yun predicts that the drop – a smaller dip than in previous months – reinforces hopes that home prices have begun to stabilize.
A shrinking supply of homes on the market (now a 7.8 month inventory) is also positive news. According to Realtor.org,
Total housing inventory at the end of September fell 7.5 percent to 3.63 million existing homes available for sale, which represents an 7.8-month supply at the current sales pace, down from an 9.3-month supply in August. Unsold inventory totals are 15.0 percent below a year ago.“The current housing supply is the lowest we’ve seen in two and a half years,” Yun said. “If we could continue to absorb inventory at this pace, home prices would return to normal, modest appreciation patterns next year.
Click below to watch Peter Coy, Economic Editor of BusinessWeek, discuss the latest numbers.
An abundance of foreclosures and discounted distressed properties have set the stage for investors to flood the real estate sector. Mark Shapiro, head of global restructuring and finance at Barclays Capital, predicts that new investment will flow into “the whole gamut” of real estate opportunities, according to a recent report from Reuters.
“What’s happening in distressed [investing] is that the more opportunistic investors [are] willing to take the risks around what is a situation that still lacks visibility, i.e. real estate, over the next couple of years,” Reuters quotes Shapiro as saying.
In today’s fragile market, inexperienced investors are wise to seek assistance. Listen to real estate agent and investment specialist Nancy Dunning as she gives an overview of what to expect in Dallas, and also describes the rewards of investing – both financial and fun.
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