Dallas County Real Estate Market Report – March 2018

Enjoy this Dallas County Real Estate Market Report for this March 2018.  You may also search for homes for sale and save your favorite properties.  Set up a search and be alerted when new properties matching your criteria come on the market.

Dallas County Real Estate Market Starts 2018 Higher Prices with Few Listings

Here is a look at the Dallas County Real Estate Market for March 2018.  Compared to the same time last year, March experienced a 4.2% decrease in closed sales with an 3.7% decrease in new listings and average days on market of homes for sale in Dallas TX of 42 on market.

A Look at Housing Stats

Dallas County real estate statistics are tracked in the North Texas Real Estate Information System (NTREIS), more commonly known as the Multiple Listing Service or MLS.  This is a look at all residential property types including single-family homes, condominiums, and townhouses, including both resale and new construction.  In Dallas County, TX last month:

• 1,569 Sales Closed — Down 4.2% from 1,637 in February 2017
• 1,840 Homes were In Contract expected to close soon
• 2,522 New Listings went on the market, Down 3.7% from 2,620 in February 2017
• Average Days on Market (DoM) = 42 Days UP 5.0% from 40 days in February 2017
• Active Listings = 4,006 — Down 6.3% from 4,275 in February 2017
• Month’s of Inventory = 1.9 Months, Down 5.0% from 2.0 in February 2017

In the last 3 months there have been 827 single-family home listings expire without being sold.

The trend in sales price of homes sold has increased 9.0% from $326,724 in February 2017 to $356,291 in February 2018 with average list price to sales price ratio at 96.9% indicating that even with a monthly decrease in home sales, the market price trend continues upward year over year.

What Does This Data Mean?

When we look at the market trends the month’s of inventory is a key number.  This number is the total number of home sales in a given month divided into the total number of active listings.  A neutral market is considered 6 months of inventory.  Anything less than 5 is considered a seller’s market and anything greater than 7 is considered a buyer’s market.

Dallas County is Currently in a strong Seller’s Market

What Does This Data Mean if I am Selling a Home in 2018?

Want to beat the competition?  It is spring break, days are getting longer and warmer.  In the summer you will have more competition.  Now might be a really great time to sell a home.  After coming off 4 years of record sales and prices, many experts believe we are due to see a slowing of the rapid growth.  However, market conditions remain strong and the job market which is a primary driver of real estate remains great.  The tax cut plan passed late last year is starting to hit paychecks, the economy is adding jobs and more people are entering the labor market.  Jobs drive home sales, leading to more qualified buyers out in today’s market as indicated by the extremely low days on market and rising prices.  These buyers who need to find a home now are not willing to wait for homes to be listed in the summer.  Therefore, they are going to choose from lower inventory meaning you have less competition.  And, what happens when there is high demand and low supply?  The supply and demand law states that when supply is limited and demand is high, then prices go up.

The home showing season will heat up soon.  Your competition is preparing their home to list, and you can command a higher price by being first to the market since there are fewer, higher quality viewings during this time of year.

Are we beginning to see a shift in the market?  We truly won’t know that answer until a few months after it happens when we can look back and say, ah yes, there was the top.  It looked like there was the beginning of the shift last fall, and now prices have started rising again.  There are some signs indicating a shifting market, however no one can really know where the exact top of the market is until we look back.  We are up month-to-month from a year ago.  Bank interest rates are increasing, however they have not risen to the point where they affect home affordability.  This could be similar to the downward trend which occurred at the beginning of last year which was short lived only to see the upward trend continue.  The new tax law passed in December 2017 has just now started to affect the average home buyer in Dallas County and might cause people from high-tax states to look to move to Texas.  The limit of $10,000 deduction for local and property taxes could affect higher end homes, however if someone is buying a home over $500,000 which is twice the average price, tax savings is probably not the primary driver of their decision.

If your realtor is not tracking the market daily, then you might miss the opportunity to obtain top dollar for your home.  Now might actually be the best time to sell a home in Dallas TX.  If you’re considering selling your home in today’s market, contrary to popular belief it takes a lot more than simply placing a sign in the yard and waiting for the phone to ring.

At the Lockhart Real Estate Team, we offer free consultations where we will review what the most recent homes have sold for that are most closely comparable to yours as well as look at the exiting active inventory buyers will see and compare to yours.  With this information in hand, we can develop a tailored marketing approach which starts with strategically pricing your home so it screams value to the buyers in today’s market.

The housing market is changing on a daily basis, and you need a real estate professional who monitors this market and is able to interpret it for you and advise you on how to reach your real estate goals.  To find out how recent sales have affected the value of your home, click here to obtain your home value online in only 15 seconds.

View Most Recent Listings in Dallas County

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About Tim Lockhart

Lead Agent and owner of the Lockhart Real Estate Team – Keller Williams Realty, Tim Lockhart, a 6th generation Texan, grew up in Arlington TX, and after having served 20 years as an Air Force Civil Engineering officer he retired in 2013. The experience, work ethic and leadership gained in the Air Force propelled him in only 4 years to build a real estate business ranking in the top 5% of agents worldwide, while outperforming the market by 28%, selling his seller’s homes 27% faster. Tim is a Certified Military Relocation Specialist providing the highest level of service to his clients.

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