North Texas home sales set new record in 2014

DALLAS-FORT WORTH – North Texas Real Estate agents sold a record number of houses in 2014. More than 90,000 preowned single-family homes changed hands last year through the multiple listing service.

It was only a 1 percent increase in total sales from 2013, but that was enough to make it an all-time high for home sales in the area, according to the latest data from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University and the North Texas Real Estate Information Systems.

North Texas home sales in 2014 were about 5 percent higher than before the recession in 2006. Sales have grown by more than 40 percent from the bottom of the housing market slump in 2010 when only 83,832 houses sold.

Median home sales prices in North Texas at the end of the year were almost 40 percent above where they were in early 2010 when the recession had reduced residential values.

Housing analysts and real estate agents say that recent declines in home finance costs helped boost sales in the final months of 2014.

“The mortgage rates have really come down again, below 4 percent generally available,” said Dr. James Gaines, an economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.

“Buyers for existing homes are jumping on board, especially if they think rates will start going back up in the coming months.”

In December, only 16,518 houses were listed for sale with real estate agents in the more than two dozen North Texas counties the Real Estate Center tracks for its monthly report.

See condos, single-family home data at NTREIS MLS Area Housing Activity Report.

DFW Areas are available in the NTREIS report. Be sure to copy the report from the link. It will no longer be available from NTREIS next month.

Source: Dallas Morning News.

tags: DFW housing, DFW housing data