Good news may finally be here: after two years of enduring a declining housing market, North Texas looks poised for a nice rebound.
Will the bounce back happen right away? Unlikely. Will we see an improvement over the next few months? Without a doubt.
Officials at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas have noted that the local economy appears to have finally bottomed out, thereby providing ample room for stability and growth once again. There are plenty of signs that the worse is over for the Dallas housing market, which means 2010 will finally show the glimmers of hope that so many real estate agents and sellers have been desperately searching for over the last couple years.
Pre-Owned Homes Sales Increasing
Some of the positive signs include the increase of pre-owned home sales over the last two months, compared to the same time last year, as well as the number of homes in North Texas have fallen to their lowest level in more than two years. In other words, fewer homes on the market mean that more are being sold.
Positive Signs for Builders
Builders, of course, see these numbers as a positive sign that the demand for new construction will also follow suit, and are therefore beginning to start more houses in preparation for the increase in sales.
Right now there is currently a less than six-month supply for new homes priced under $250,000 and about a six-month supply of homes priced between $250,000 and $500,000 in North Texas.
Builders are still experiencing difficulty with strict lending practices, which has also resulted in a low new home supply. However, some industry analysts are still predicting that builders will produce about 15,000 new homes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 2010.
Tight Lending Standards
Tight lending practices are expected to persist in 2010, thereby providing obstacles for small builders. Some analysts therefore predict that larger public companies will account for the majority of new homes starts in 2010.
Declines in homes sales have finally leveled off, and median home prices are even showing signs of increases.
Given the fact that the Dallas economy is expected to bounce back much quicker than other large cities (mainly because it didn’t experience the housing bubble that many other large cities did), it appears that 2010 will finally be a year to being breathing again.
