Austin and Dallas Lead Texas In Home Price Gains
Austin is leading the major Texas markets in home price gains, beating the national average. Median home prices in the Austin area jumped 5.2% in July from a year ago. That's well ahead of the nationwide increase of 3.6% during the same period, according to CoreLogic. Dallas-area prices increased 3.5% in July from a year ago.
"Sales of new and existing homes this July were up from a year ago, supported by low mortgage rates and rising family income," Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic, said in a statement. "With the for-sale inventory remaining low in many markets, the pick-up in buying has nudged price growth up. "If low interest rates and rising income continue, then we expect home price growth will strengthen over the coming year."
CoreLogic estimates that 40% of the country's biggest metro areas have overvalued home prices, including the Dallas area. Looking at the major U.S. markets, home prices in July were up 5.3% year-over-year in Las Vegas and 3.7% in Denver. Houston home prices increased only 2.4% from a year ago, and prices in San Antonio were 2.8% higher. CoreLogic predicts that nationwide home values will grow 5.4% in the next 12 months.
Continued home price growth in most U.S. metro areas is affecting the sales of homes to first-time buyers. "A growing number of millennials are expressing an interest in buying homes, reinforcing the theory that this cohort is continuing to engage within the housing market," Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic, said in a statement. "But with so few homes available for sale, the imbalance has created an affordability crisis that is getting worse every day...
