Economy

Economic Issues Affecting Texas Housing Markets

North Texas Real Estate Gets Coronafied As Fed Nationalizes Bond Market

North Texas real estate is going to get coronafied, and the coming months will reveal the extent of what looks to be lasting damage for the local real estate market.  The official press release estimates compiled by the A&M RECenter and regurgitated by major media outlets pegged March home sales for a 4 percent increase. It's important to keep in mind these press release numbers are statistical estimates which run off of algorithms accounting for late closings. Sometimes the padding added for late closings or contract activity is overdone, and I believe March is one [...]

Contracts For North Texas Home Purchases Still Shrinking

I have been monitoring the contracts for home purchases in the North Texas area since last week, and the numbers are not encouraging. The number of active option contract properties (listings where the home has gone under contract with a buyer option to back out) continues to shrink. This is not surprising considering the economic backdrop, but it also points to a more prolonged downturn than many in the real estate industry were expecting. Pending sales data for March will not be pretty, but the April data for North Texas home sales could be an [...]

Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey Crashes, Hit To Texas Housing Market Awaits

The Dallas Fed Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey for March just crashed to the worst levels since the survey began. The production index cratered from 16.4 to negative 35. New orders dropped to negative 41.3, and the growth rate of new orders index fell to negative 44.9. The employment index fell to negative 23.0, and the hours worked index fell to negative 22.4 "The general business activity index plunged from 1.2 to -70.0, and the company outlook index fell from 3.6 to -65.6. Both March readings are the lowest since the survey began in June 2004." [...]

Market Chaos Hits Mortgage Market, iBuyers Disappear

Chaos is hitting the mortgage markets, and iBuyers have suddenly disappeared from the real estate landscape quicker than a cat on a hot tin roof. The Fed is in utter panic mode, and we are only beginning to find out how fragile the U.S. economy really is. Here's the QE to Infinity announcement from the Fed: "Federal Reserve announces extensive new measures to support the economy." If you thought the Fed's response to 2008 was extreme, this week's actions by the Federal Reserve make 2008 look tame in comparison. During the height of QE 1, [...]

North Texas Home Sales Climb Higher In February As Yields Collapse

North Texas home sales rose again in February as record low mortgage interest rates continued to support the local real estate market. Dallas-Fort Worth saw sales rise 8 percent in February while pending sales were roughly 13 percent higher. The median price of a DFW home jumped 6 percent compared to a year ago, while the average price rose 7.7 percent. The supply of North Texas homes on the market dropped 13 percent to 2.6 months of supply. Denton County homes sales spiked 18 percent higher last month while pending sales rose about 15 percent [...]

Low Rates Keep North Texas Home Sales Alive In September

North Texas home sales improved by roughly 7 percent in September, boosted by an extremely favorable year-over-year mortgage rate comparison which kept affordability levels manageable for area home shoppers. Denton County saw a 7 percent improvement in September home closings, while the City of Denton saw home sales fall slightly compared to the same month in 2018. Pending home sales in the Dallas-Fort Worth area improved by 9 percent in September, but not by the magical 12 percent as reported in the area's largest paper. Pending sales activity in Denton County was up double digits, [...]

Denton TX Home Prices Hit New Record, DFW Real Estate Closes Out Strong Summer

Denton Texas hit a new record in August, with average home prices pushing above $284,000 for the month. The average price of a single-family home in Denton TX pushed above $290,000 for the month, eclipsing the previous record set in June. The plunge in mortgage interest rates back to near record lows kept the summer sales momentum going for the local real estate market. Denton County saw home sales rise about 10 percent compared to August of last year, while pending sales look to post a slight gain as well. Flat pricing in Denton County [...]

DFW Unemployment Rate Drops To 3.3 Percent

The Texas unemployment rate hit a fresh low in the month of June, with the official headline number falling to 3.4 percent. According to the Texas Workforce Commission Texas added 45,000 jobs during the month and 315,600 jobs over the latest 12 month period. Dallas-Fort Worth posted an unemployment rate of 3.3 percent, down from 3.8 percent a year ago. The news from the TWC is that Texas continues to be a beneficiary of the longest economic expansion in U.S. history, and the DFW area has certainly been a part of that expansion. Denton County [...]

International Real Estate Activity In U.S. Cools Dramatically In Latest Survey

Foreign buyers are cooling on U.S. residential real estate. NAR's Profile of International Transactions in U.S. Residential Real Estate 2019 shows foreign purchases declined 36 percent from the previous 12 month period to $77.9 billion. That translates to 183,100 home purchases, or roughly 3 percent of existing home sales in the U.S. Chinese purchases of U.S. real estate declined 56 percent to $13.4 billion in dollar volume. NAR's latest survey shows that the escalating trade war and stagnating global economy are definitely taking a toll on foreign investment in residential real estate in the United [...]

Things Get Ugly For Denton-Based Sally Beauty

Things just got ugly for Denton-based Sally Beauty supply. The international retailer and distributor of professional beauty supplies saw its stock plummet after Amazon announced its own professional beauty store. This is not exactly great news for one of Denton's largest businesses. Amazon is a virtually unregulated monopoly on multiple fronts with huge tax advantages to many of its competitors. Amazon Beauty customers will still need a license to purchase professional use products, but Amazon is playing by a different set of rules as regulators continue to turn a blind eye to Amazon's monopolistic business [...]

Go to Top