D-FW Topped Texas for 2018 Home Sales
Dallas-Fort Worth led the state in home sales last year, even though sales declined from record 2017 levels.
Texas real estate agents sold 344,030 homes in 2018 — up 1.7 percent for the year. "The unprecedented real estate market activity in Texas in 2018 is a testament to the state's business-friendly atmosphere and strong economy," Tray Bates, 2019 chairman of Texas Realtors, said in a statement. "It's worth noting, though, that the rate of sales and price increases has cooled off a bit compared to prior years." Statewide median home sales prices rose 4.4 percent year-over-year to $232,900, according to the Realtor. D-FW real estate agents sold 99,484 homes last year, down 2.3 percent from the 2017 total. The median home price in North Texas last year was $265,000 — 3.9 percent higher than in 2017, according to the Realtors. Houston was the second-busiest Texas home sales market, with 87,129 sales by real estate agents. That was a 3.3 percent increase from 2017 sales. Houston-area prices were up 3.1 percent to $235,000.
The most expensive Texas home prices are in the Austin area, where median home costs last year were $306,000 — up 3.7 percent from 2017 levels.
"Despite another record-breaking year in the Texas housing market, home sales activity around the state slowed due to continued shortages in housing inventory and increased interest rates," Jim Gaines, chief economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, said in the new report. "We're anticipating this will affect new home construction in 2019 due to the cost of land, shortage of labor and increased turnaround time for permitting...
