Rockwall, Denton Counties Led in August Home Sales Gains
Rockwall and Denton counties were the big winners in the August home market. The two counties had the biggest jump in home sales in the D-FW area.
Rockwall home sales were almost 17% higher than in August 2018. And in Denton County sales were up 12.6%, the MetroTex Association of Realtors reports. Overall, the number of single-family homes sold last month in North Texas was 5% higher than a year earlier, according to data from local real estate agents.
Home sales in August were down 4.2% from a year ago in Kaufman County and fell by 0.3% in Dallas County. Tarrant County sales were up a scant 0.5%. Area-wide median sales prices rose 4% from August 2018. Sales prices soared 13.9% year-over-year in Ellis County, and median sales prices were 6.3% higher in Tarrant County. Kaufman County had a 28.3% jump in the inventory of homes listed for sale with real estate agents — the largest gain of any D-FW county, according to the MetroTex Realtors.
Lower mortgage rates in the last few months have caused a rise in home sales in most areas of North Texas. But a lack of inventory is holding back purchases from where they would likely be if more homes were available for purchase. "Home sales are just going to putter along — but a record levels," said Dr. James Gaines, chief economist for the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. "The thing that has slowed down the most is the upper-end market, which pulls up average home prices. "Don't expect great shakes in the housing market this year..."
