Is The Plano Real Estate Maket Warming Up

Posted on Wednesday, September 10, 2008 at 01:52PM by Bill Webb Post a Comment The latest statistics show that the local real estate market in the North Dallas Suburbs may be starting to turn. The shift in the local market has been swift in comparison to other markets and certainly not as severe as some. While the roots of the downturn showed up in 2006, we did not see the full effect of the pressure on the market until the sub-prime crisis of 2007. In the last year we have seen home sales down about 13-35%(depending an area) for year to date. The monthly pending sale numbers for the five areas that I follow are actually better for the month of August. Prices remain steady with only Allen and McKinney showing a decrease in the average price versus a year ago. Plano, Richardson, and Frisco all show a slight increase. That being said, I would suggest that prices are simply flat. Note also that the months of inventory for each area is down for the month as compared to the year to date average. This is certainly a good sign. A big part of the reason for this is that there are fewer homes for sale in the marketplace. In all areas that i cover the decrease in homes for sale is a good bit steeper in August than for the year to date. This suggests that there is more price resistance from the seller side at this time than earlier in the year. Plano, for instance, shows only a 4.6 month supply of homes on the market in August. This is down from 4.9 the previous month and 5months supply year to date. On the demand side of the equation we have a Dallas job market that leads the nation in job growth. We have a strong local economy and we are in generally good economic condition. The Dallas area continues to shine as an affordable housing market. While I am not sure that we can declare that our housing market has turned and indeed headed upward. I do think we are seeing some signs that suggest a sustained recovery is not far off.