Waco home sales, prices surging

WACO – After years on the sidelines, buyers have poured into the market, ready to take advantage of mortgage rates hovering a shade higher than 3 percent and an economy that is improving.

Waco has joined the party. Home sales and home prices are surging. Housing inventory is falling.

A quarterly report from the Texas Association of Realtors showed Waco with 463 sales of existing homes between January and March, an 11.8 percent increase from the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the average price of an existing home rose 7.5 percent, to $142,339. Housing inventory has dropped steadily the past year, from nine months to 7.4 months.

For January through March, local contractors took out 107 permits, representing the highest first quarter since 2008.