Tarrant County Real Estate Market Report – December 2017

Enjoy this Tarrant County Real Estate Market Report for December 2017.  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.

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Tarrant County Real Estate Market Sustains Strong Growth through 2017

Here is a look at the Tarrant County Real Estate Market for December 2017.  Compared to the same time last year, November experienced a 11.5% decrease in closed sales with an 4.5% decrease in new listings and average days on market of homes for sale in Arlington TX remaining around one month on market.

A Look at Housing Stats

Tarrant 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 Tarrant County, TX last month:

• 2,040 Sales Closed — Down 3.1% from 2,105 in November 2016
• 1,981 Homes were In Contract expected to close soon
• 2,136 New Listings went on the market, Up 2.3% from 2,087 in November 2016
• Average Days on Market (DoM) = 34 Days 3.0% increase from 33 days in November 2016
• Active Listings = 4,163 — Down 2.7% from 4,280 in November 2016
• Month’s of Inventory = 1.8 Months, Down 5.3% from 1.9 in November 2016

In the last 3 months there have been 605 listings expire without being sold.

The trend in original list price has increased 6.6% from $267,674 in November 2016 to $285,253 in November 2017 with average list price to sales price ratio at 99.6% indicating that even though there has been a monthly decrease in home sales, the market trend continues upward throughout this year is resulting in higher prices.  However, average sales price has leveled off from a high point earlier this year.

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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.

Tarrant County is Currently in a strong Seller’s Market

What Does This Data Mean if I am Selling a Home in 2017?

Now might be a really great time to sell a home.  After coming off 4 years of record sales and prices, 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.  It is now December and the holidays and first of the year tend to be a really great time to sell homes for numerous reasons.  What about the common wisdom that the best time to sell is the spring and summer?  It is absolutely true that a larger number of homes sell during the spring and summer.  However, since “everyone knows that”, your competition is waiting for later in the new year to put their home on the market.  There are qualified buyers out in today’s market as indicated by the extremely low days on market, and these buyers who need to find a home now are not willing to wait for homes to be listed in the spring.  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?  What happens to prices when that toy every kid must have for Christmas starts running low on the store shelves?  The supply and demand law states that when supply is limited and demand is high, then prices go up.

There will be fewer showings during the holidays, when it is cold and dreary outside which is good for the fact that you will be inconvenienced less, and the buyers who are in the market now are much more serious.  So, there are fewer, higher quality viewings during this time of year.  Buyers are also more emotional during the holidays.  It is proven that people tend to made buying decisions based on emotion and back up their decision with logic.  So, if we can catch buyers in town visiting relatives they may be more inclined to make an offer.

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.  We’ve had a few points recently where there was a down turn in prices, only to see activity pick right back up.  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, however there has been a decrease of the trend line since the peak earlier this year.  This could be a seasonal shift, or it could indicate a longer-term trend.  Bank 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 this year which was short lived only to see the upward trend continue.  The new tax law passed in December 2017 won’t affect the average home buyer in Tarrant 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 Arlington TX.  Since there are fewer listings in the fall, the actual percentage of homes selling in the 3rd and 4th quarters actually remains fairly constant. Another factor is, many people were recently displaced from Hurricane Harvey and are buying homes in DFW.  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.

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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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