Economy

Economic Issues Affecting Texas Housing Markets

North Texas Housing Market Stalls with Eight Percent Rates

The North Texas housing market continued to cool with mortgage rates rising to eight percent in October. Closed sales in Denton County fell 9 percent from a year ago. Pending contracts slid 2 percent. Inventory remained steady at 2.5 months of supply. Percent of list and days on market were relatively unchanged. Median home prices in Denton County slid to $450,000 in October, down 1.3% from a year ago. Average prices cooled as well, sliding to $538,063. Prices have cooled for 3 months in a row. It's not just normal seasonality at play. Higher mortgage [...]

Denton County House Payments Hit Record Highs

Denton County house payments hit record highs in July. Prospective home buyers continued to get pinched by higher mortgage rates and the rebound in North Texas home prices through the first half of the year. As mortgage rates mushroomed back toward 7 percent, area house payments have soared for buyers using a market rate mortgage. Median home prices came in at $475,000 for the month of July. The median house payment for Denton County buyers factoring in the rise in interest rates translates to a principal and interest payment of over $2500 per month. That's [...]

Denton County New Home Market Headed for Another Slowdown

Denton County's new home market is headed for another slowdown. High prices and a rebound in interest rates to that critical seven percent mark are just part of the problem. There's also a pending recession on deck. The Census Bureau reported April new home sales at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 683,000 units. That was better than expected, but previous months were revised lower. Cancellation rates for builders have come back down, but new home affordability remains an issue. There is still a large backlog of homes under construction. Any softness in the economy [...]

Home Prices Are Falling – Time to Face Reality

North Texas home prices continued to fall in August. The post-pandemic housing bubble in the DFW area continues to deflate. The Fed is actively pushing for a housing reset. After facilitating reckless asset price inflation during the pandemic, taming inflation is now priority number one for the Powell Fed. Powell told us this week they will keep at it until the job is done. Denton County home sales were down 6 percent compared to August of last year. Pending sales slide even further, dropping 12 percent. With rates heading back toward 6 percent, activity and [...]

7 Tips for Denton County Home Buyers as the Housing Bubble Pops

Here are 7 tips for Denton County home buyers as the post-pandemic housing bubble pops. We've seen some epic moves in the bond markets the last few days. The yield on the 10-year treasury bond spiked to 3.5% on Tuesday, pushing mortgage rates to yearly highs. The rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgage jumped to 6.28% according to Mortgage News Daily. Inflation is raging, and consumers are losing patience. If they aren’t already priced out of the market, many buyers are hitting the pause button. Home affordability has been absolutely crushed the last few months as the [...]

North Texas Housing Market Looks Like A Bubble

The North Texas housing market is looking like a bubble waiting to burst. Home prices continued to melt up in April. Median and average home prices hit new all-time highs across the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The median home price in Denton County hit a new record high of $480,000, an increase of 22.9 percent from last year. Average prices hit $577,607. That was up 25.1 percent year-over-year. The melt-up in prices is pretty astounding considering mortgage interest rates are now solidly above 5 percent. Monthly payments for a prospective home buyer in North Texas have [...]

Fed Hikes Rates 50 Basis Points, Punts Balance Sheet Reduction to June 1st

The Federal Reserve increased the Federal Funds rate to a range of 0.75-1.00 percent. The 50 basis-point rate hike was largely expected. Powell shot down any talk of a 75 basis-point hike. Jerome Powell also announced that balance sheet reduction would begin June 1st. The FOMC statement. "The Committee seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run. With appropriate firming in the stance of monetary policy, the Committee expects inflation to return to its 2 percent objective and the labor market to remain strong. In support [...]

New Home Sales Begin Slide As Interest Rates Rise

New home sales are beginning to slide as rising rates clamp down on the housing market euphoria. The Census Bureau reported February new home sales at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 772,000 units. That's a 2 percent slide from January and down 6.2 percent from last year. The unadjusted February sales estimate shows 65,000 new homes sold. That translates to a 7 percent slide year-over-year. The median price of a new home came in at $400,600. The average price posted at $511,000, a new record high for the series. It's interesting to note [...]

Collateral Damage Coming to the North Texas Housing Market

Collateral damage in the North Texas housing market is beginning to reveal itself. Inflation is at a fresh 40-year high. Homes have never been more expensive, and interest rates are on the rise. Official consumer price inflation just printed at an annual pace of 7.9 percent. This is with many of the official CPI metrics understating actual inflation. This is also before the spike in global energy markets with the tragedy unfolding in Ukraine. While many housing industry pundits were clinging to the slight drop in mortgage rates last week, that blip is now a [...]

New Home Sales Fall as Rising Rates Temper Demand

New home sales fell in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 801,000 units. The previous three months were revised higher. Census Bureau estimates put new home sales 4.5 percent below the revised December numbers. New home sales were 19.3 percent lower than January of last year. The median price of a new home contracted in January was $423,300. The average sales price of a new home posted at $496,900. That was a new all-time high. Median and average new home prices both hit new record highs in North Texas in January. On [...]

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