Dallas-Area Home Price Gains Smallest Since 2012
Dallas-area home prices rose by just 3.4% in the last year -- the smallest such increase in seven years. And the gain in home values in North Texas was below February's nationwide year-over-year price gain of 4%, according to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index released Tuesday. Home price increases across the country are slowing. None of the 20 major markets Case-Shiller tracks had double-digit percentage home price increases.
"The pace of increases for home prices continues to slow," S&P's David M. Blitzer said in the report. "Homes began their climb in 2012 and accelerated until late 2013 when annual increases reached double digits. Sales of existing single family homes have recovered since 2010 and reached their peak one year ago in February 2018." The largest annual home price gains were in Las Vegas, up 9.7%, and Phoenix, up 6.7%. The smallest home price increases among major metros were in San Diego, 1.1%, and San Francisco, 1.4% -- two previously hot housing markets.
"Home prices continued to tap on the brakes in February, moderating their earlier breakneck speeds, particularly in pricey West Coast markets," Zillow economic analyst Matthew Speakman said in a statement. "Less expensive metros are zooming past their pricey coastal counterparts in year-over-year price gains, creating a mix of market behaviors that indicates the housing market overall is normalizing rather than heading for a crash. "The slowdown reflects the wider range of inventory that buyers had available this winter, which gave them more breathing room around prices than they have had in a while."
Growth in North Texas home prices began to slow last summer and has steadily declined during the last six months. A year ago, prices were rising at almost twice the rate in Case-Shiller's latest report. Case-Shiller tracks the prices of typical single-family homes located in each metropolitan area. The index survey does not include condominiums and townhouses. It only covers preowned properties -- no new construction. The Case-Shiller researchers compare "arms-length sales" of specific single-family homes over time. Even with the slowdown in appreciation, median home sales prices in the Dallas-area remain at all-time highs and affordability is a big issue for buyers. Local prices are almost 50% higher in the index than they were at the peak of the home market before the Great Recession...
