Dallas Area home sales continue to show improvement

This was released by the Texas Association of Realtors today.

Sales volume of Texas homes up for third quarter in a row

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According to the latest Texas Quarterly Housing Report, covering second quarter 2010, the volume of real estate sales in Texas increased for the third quarter in a row, possibly spurred by renewed job growth in the state and the expiration of federal homebuyer tax credits.

The Texas Quarterly Housing Report is issued four times a year by the Texas Association of REALTORS® with multiple listing service (MLS) data compiled and analyzed by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.

For the period of April through June 2010, sales of existing single-family homes increased 14% to 66,079 compared to the same quarter of the prior year. Over the same time period, the median price of homes in Texas remained virtually unchanged at $149,200. The months of inventory of Texas homes – a statistic that indicates the balance between supply and demand for homes – increased slightly from 7.3 months in 2009-Q2 to 7.4 in 2010-Q2.

Bill Jones, chairman of the Texas Association of REALTORS®, commented on the positive results. ”We’re encouraged to see continued strength in Texas’ real estate market as 2010 marches forward,” says Jones. “We’re now focused on maintaining that strength and expanding access to affordable, sustainable homeownership in Texas.”

To do so, the Texas Association of REALTORS® launched TxHomePrograms.org, a searchable online database of homebuyer assistance programs. In addition, Texas REALTORS®are partnering with local lenders, housing counselors, and others throughout the state to host educational events for consumers about affordable housing.

Jim Gaines, Ph.D., an economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, says the robust second-quarter numbers were “spurred by particularly heavy volume in April and May. However, the federal tax credits for homebuyers expired on April 30 and sales volume decreased between May and June. It’s possible the tax credit deadline inspired buyers to move up purchasing decisions, so we may have seen our usual ‘summer peak’ in sales volume a little early this year.”