Home prices are cooling but DFW housing market remains hot
Housing market in Dallas Fort Worth area has traditionally remained hot. Demand has outstripped supplies in this metro housing market in the last decade or so. However, the real estate market seems to be cooling off a bit in recent times, particularly in 2019. One can see homes sitting on the market for 50-60 days. This is something that was unthinkable only a few years ago.
However, it would be foolish to assume that Dallas housing market is busting or crashing down. Prices are still increasing, even though this increase is nominal. Home prices in North Texas registered an increase of 1.4% in the first quarter of 2019 as compared with their prices in the same period in 2018.
Zillow dubs North Texas housing market as cooling off. But it also says that prices would increase by 7.5% this year. Yes, this increase is only half of 14.2% price rise registered last year. But it only means that Dallas housing market is on an upswing even now. There are many reasons behind this DFW housing market doing well. Economy of the area is booming, and unemployment rate is down to just 3.3%. Nearly 130000 people moved into this area last year. One third of these people would be looking for homes this year. This also means that there would be additional demand for homes in DFW housing market this year.
It is quite late in the summer housing market. But if one looks at sales figures, he finds that there is a lot of activity even after vacations are over and kids are back to school. Experts say that this buzz in the housing market is because of the extremely low mortgage rates. Average mortgage rates for a fixed 30 year mortgage are lying at a low of 3.55%. This is the lowest mortgage rate since July 2016 when it touched a low of 3.41%.
Low mortgage rates are the biggest reason why home buyers and homeowners are scrambling for mortgage and refinance even at this time of the year.
Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sam Khater feels that the decrease in mortgage rates has given a big boost to the housing markets in North Texas. Lower mortgage rates have strengthened home sales. They are also allowing homeowners to save a lot of their hard earned money through refinance deals.
The only part of the real estate market that has not benefited from low mortgage rates is the new construction that has been hit by shortage of labor and high constriction material cost.
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