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Demand Destruction Hitting Denton County Housing Market

Demand destruction continues to hit the Denton County housing market. The Federal Reserve's housing reset and tighter policy led to a 28 percent slide in home sales in November. Pending contracts for homes were down 24 percent from the same time a year ago. In reality sales numbers are softer than official estimates. We still have another 6 months or so before we'll see more accurate comparisons on sales totals with new construction sales consistently in the MLS. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association mortgage purchase applications are still running about 40 percent lower than [...]

North Texas Housing Market in Full-Blown Correction Mode

The North Texas housing market is now in full-blown correction mode. The Federal Reserve's housing market "reset" message is finally sinking in. Home sales volumes continue to slide. Home prices in the Dallas-Fort Worth area continue to drop from their blow-off peaks earlier this year. Mortgage interest rates have spiked to seven percent, while the Fed puts the balance sheet roll-off into high gear. The correction in real estate prices has caused many of the larger asset owners, particularly those in the private equity space and the consultants who serve them, to lose their minds. [...]

New Home Sales Plunge with Affordability Concerns

New home sales took a serious nosedive in April. The Census Bureau reported new home sales for April at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 591,000. That was way below consensus estimates and a 16.6 percent slide from the March figure.  New home sales were down 26.9 percent from April of last year. Previous months' estimates were also revised lower. The following two charts help explain why the consensus has been oblivious to what's really happening. Something was bound to give, and it finally did. In layman's terms, new homes are no longer affordable [...]

Denton County Home Buyers Front-Run Rate Hikes Sending Prices Soaring

Fear of missing out (FOMO) was the theme last month in Denton County Texas as home buyers behaved like irrational humans often do. Buyers jumped into the local housing market front-running the coming Federal Reserve rate hikes. Home prices shattered records as a result. The median price of home rose 25.3% year-over-year to a record $464,000. Average prices rose 23.6% to a record high $554,098. Closed sales were roughly flat compared to last year. That's a testament to how frenzied the activity was given the current backdrop of spiraling interest rates. Pending sales (contracts) fell 10 [...]

Mortgage Rates Breach 5% Mark After Brainard Speech

U.S. mortgage rates breached the critical 5 percent level today. Prepared remarks from FOMC dove Lael Brainard spooked the markets into a tailspin sending yields on the 10-year Treasury above 2.56 percent. Average mortgage interest rates quoted from Mortgage News Daily spiked to 5.02 percent. This is the first time rates have been this high since 2018. You may remember that the fourth quarter of 2018 also saw the stock market and real estate markets come unglued before the Fed stepped in to intervene. Unfortunately for real estate bulls, this time is different. Instead of [...]

North Texas Housing Market Correction Taking Shape

A housing market correction is coming to North Texas. Don't say you weren't warned. The data points have been piling up for months. The only question remaining is how this all plays out, or more specifically how much pain the Fed is willing to tolerate. Inflation Rages Today's headline print for CPI inflation came in at a red-hot 7.5%. Despite many experts' assumptions that inflation would be moderating, core inflation has actually been increasing in each of the last three month's readings from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Jerome Powell and the FOMC decided to [...]

North Texas Home Sales Continue To Soften

North Texas home sales continue to soften. September sales data reflect a 9 percent slide in closings in Denton County. The DFW area experienced a 5 percent slide in home sales last month according to NTREIS Trends data. Pending sales in Denton County were flat to just slightly negative last month. The broader Dallas-Fort Worth area saw a 3 percent decline in September sales contracts. With the Federal Reserve expected to announce a taper of their huge asset purchase program ($120 billion per month) things have been a little wobbly in the markets. After marching [...]

New Home Sales Rise Slightly In August to 740,000 SAAR

New home sales for August posted at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 740,000 units. That was slightly better than expectations. New home sales were 1.5 percent higher for the month, but still down 24.3 percent from August of last year. The median price of a new home in August was $390,900. The average price checked in at $443,200. Census figures showed 6.1 months of new home inventory. Unadjusted figures show 6.2 months of supply. Anyone shopping for a new home understands those headline figures are complete bullocks. Looking into the composition of new [...]

Average Denton County Home Costs More Than Half a Million

Denton County home prices shattered records last month. The median price of a home in the area hit $410,000, up 22.4 percent from the same time a year ago. The average price of a Denton County home hit $506,957, shattering the previous high set in June. The new average home price above half a $million was 29.7 percent higher than August of 2020. Average prices for new construction and resale properties hit new records last month as inventory remained in the basement. The number of homes available for sale in Denton County dipped slightly from [...]

Insanity – Denton County Home Prices Go Parabolic

Denton County home prices went parabolic in March. The median price of a Denton County home rose 16 percent from March of last year. Average prices rose 23.5 percent to a new record of $448,566. The number of homes listed for sale in Denton County crashed 71 percent to only 976 properties. That translates to just 0.7 months of inventory at the current pace of sales. The March figures for closed sales show a 10 percent decrease from a year ago. That's despite a relatively easy year-over-year comparison when Covid put the brakes on the [...]

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