The tight housing supply in the Dallas-Fort Worth area is easing slightly as additional homes entered the North Texas market in April.
The number of active listings in the D-FW metro area was 24,128 last month, up nearly 46% from a year ago, according to data from the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University, North Texas Real Estate Information Services and the Metrotex Association of Realtors.
In Dallas County, the region is experiencing its busiest season for buying and selling, with more than 5,100 active listings, a 56.7% increase from April of last year.
The number of listings also increased by about 70% in Collin County and just under 41% in Tarrant County.
This trend continues from March, when the number of active listings in North Texas stood at 22,449, up 34.8% from the previous year.
Housing inventory in the Dallas-Fort Worth area was at 3.2 months’ worth in April, approaching pre-pandemic levels, said Ted Wilson, president of Dallas-based Residential Strategies, a market research firm that focuses on the Texas new-home industry.
Six months of inventory is considered balanced, and getting inventory back to more normal levels is a good thing for the market, Wilson said.
“You have to look at it in relative terms because inventory was so scarce,” he said. “Homes will take a little longer to sell, but inventory will increase and it will also alleviate some of the inflationary pressures that we’re seeing on housing inventory.”
Prices have risen slightly and sales have increased, resulting in an influx of properties on the market.
The median price of a home in the D-FW area was $405,000, up 1.5% from last April. Nearly 8,700 sales closed in the Metroplex, up 8.1% from last year. Homes spent 80 days on the market in April, four days fewer than last year.
The median price in Dallas County reached $380,000, up 5.9% from April of last year. More than 2,000 sales closed last month, up more than 9% from a year ago.
It’s unclear whether this sales trend will continue as mortgage rates have risen above 7%. The average U.S. 30-year mortgage rate was 7.09% for the week ending May 9. Last week marked the first decline in rates since March.
The Federal Reserve has yet to cut interest rates as scheduled for 2024. Still, an overwhelming majority of economists surveyed by Reuters expect at least two rate cuts this year, starting in September.
Metrotex President Ashley Gentry said the April figures show interest rates are reasonably acceptable and there is some pent-up demand from buyers.
“We’re definitely seeing more balance and buyers have more options,” she said. “In most areas of D-FW, it’s still what you’d call a seller’s market.”
