North Texas home inventories see slight increase

​​DALLAS – ​​​​The number of North Texas homes for sale has increased for the first time in over two years, but housing analysts say it’s too early to tell if this signifies a real shift in the DFW housing market.

​​​​​​According to data from the Real Estate Center and the North Texas Real Estate Information Systems, 20,254 preowned​ single-family homes were listed​​ for sale in October. That’s a 1 percent increase from last year.

The number of homes on the market had been declining over 10 percent year-over-year through the middle of 2015. The shortage of housing on the market fueled big increases in​ median sales prices and has driven home costs to record levels in North Texas.

Dr. Jim Gaines, chief economist with the Real Estate Center, said he doesn’t want to read too much into a single month’s data.

"What I would say is that it might be the start of an upswing — an upswing in inventory that is expected to occur, we just don’t know exactly when," he said. "Some increase in interest in selling may be due to people expecting interest rates to increase, and they want to offer and sell their properties while demand is still strong and rates are down." 

​Gaines also said that homeowners who are having houses built might also be putting their current homes on the market, figuring that prices might be near their peak. 

Whatever may be causing the increase, Gaines doesn’t credit the higher inventories to an economic shift.

"So far, the economy is still strong, so it doesn’t seem to be a problem with jobs or the economic well-being," he said.