Here are some numbers thanks to Kelly Milligan from Chicago Title. I have been very busy as my business is up. For example, I listed a house on Friday and we are already working an offer. Houses are selling and we are fortunate to live in North Texas.
The August NTREIS numbers are hot off the presses….
For most of the past two years, reporting these figures was grim business—we’ve seen many months of lower sales and dollar volume throughout the NTREIS reporting area. But this month, the results are rather more positive. Throughout much of the NTREIS reporting area, both total number of sales and dollar volume were up—in some cases, significantly. Among the leading zones for Sales were Carrollton (up 64%); Lewisville (up 60%); Southlake and Grapevine (both up 49%) Dallas Northeast—Area 18 (up 44%);Far North Dallas—Area 10 (up 36%); Highland Park (up 25%); Dallas East—Area 12 (up 23%) Plano, McKinney and Murphy (each up 19%); Garland (up 18%); Wylie (up 13%); University Park (up 12%); Allen (up 10%) and Richardson (up 9%). Lucas and Fairview also had some impressive statistical gains (71% and 50%, respectively), albeit with much lower total numbers of transactions.
In terms of Dollar Volume, there were some interesting spikes around the area. Highland Park almost doubled up on its August 2010 total, while Dallas Oak Lawn—Area 17 saw an increase of 84%, and Carrollton posted an increase of 59%. Other big gainers include University Park (up 39%); Frisco (up 37%); Dallas East—Area 12 and Grapevine (both up 36%); Dallas—less areas 10-12 and 14-18 (35%); Lewisville (33%); Southlake (32%); Murphy (24%); Wylie (22%); Plano and Dallas North—Area 11 (both up 20%); Richardson (19%); and McKinney (18%).
Median Sale Price was somewhat more mixed, with more areas reporting declines than gains on a year-over-year basis—but remember, when you’re talking about Median Sale Price, you’re looking at the mid-point of all homes sold in the area over a given period. So if MSP is down, that doesn’t mean that homes are worth less in a given zone—it simply means that in this particular snapshot period, more homes sold at a lower price than last year. It’s not a negative.
Of coure, before anyone gets too gleeful over the sales figures, it helps to frame them in some perspective. As we’ve been pointing out for a while now, 2010 and 2011 data don’t make for great comparisons because of the manner in which the 2010 tax credit skewed last year’s demand figures. A whole year’s worth of business was crunched into the first six months of the year, and the second half of 2010 was painfully quiet. As a result of the tax credit, the first half of 2011 looked horrible—the credit pumped up demand in 2010, and in its absence, the first six months of 2011 looked pretty bleak. And by the same token, when you look at figures from July or August of 2011, you’re comparing them with the artificially stagnant market that we were all seeing this time last year. So, putting it another way, the increases that we’re seeing are nice—we all needed a little good news—but they don’t suggest that the housing market is necessarily on the road to recovery. With unemployment high and consumer confidence low, it will be a while before we see a return to the kind of robust activity that we all came to enjoy five years ago. But low interest rates, local job creation, and a still-healthy regional economy will continue to present us all with opportunities. As always, the key is to work hard, work smart, and keep smiling. We will get through this, and data like this should only serve to underscore that notion.
