Dallas-Area Home Prices Rise 5.3%
Austin saw the largest September home price gains among major metros in Texas. Austin-area home prices were up almost 8.7% from September 2019 levels, according to the latest data from the research firm CoreLogic.
Dallas-area prices rose 5.3% during the same period.
Nationally, home prices were 6.7% ahead of where they were the year before — the largest such gain in six years.
CoreLogic analysts predict that the pace of home appreciation will slow next year if more houses come on the market.
“COVID has contributed to the acute shortage of inventory as the pace of new construction slowed and older prospective sellers postponed listing their homes until after the pandemic,” CoreLogic chief economist Frank Nothaft said in the report. “Once the pandemic passes or a vaccine is widely administered, we should see a noticeable pickup in for-sale homes. And if the economy’s recovery is sluggish next year, distressed sales may also add to market inventory.”
With an 11% increase, Phoenix had the largest annual home price increase among major metro areas. Prices were up 5.3% in Fort Worth, 4.1% in Houston and 5.1% in San Antonio.
“Housing continues to be a bright spot during an otherwise challenging economic time for many U.S. households,” said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Those in sectors that weathered the transition to remote work successfully are now able to take advantage of low mortgage rates to purchase a home for the first time or to trade up to a larger home.”
Dallas-Fort Worth continues to lead metro areas in the percentage of workers who have returned to their offices, according to Kastle System’s back-to-work barometer. Just over 41% of workers were back in their offices last week, though that was down from a high of 43% only two weeks earlier. That compares with an average of 27% in 10 major cities tracked by Kastle.
For the year ahead, CoreLogic forecasts basically flat home prices. The Dallas area is expected to see a 1.2% decline in prices by September 2021, according to the projections. Houston, Las Vegas and Boston are also expected to have declines.
Home prices in North Texas have been rising at an even greater rate than CoreLogic’s latest surveys indicate. The median sales price of single-family homes sold by local real estate agents was 10% higher in September than a year earlier. Through the first nine months of 2020, prices are ahead by 6% compared with the same period last year...
