DALLAS — This story originally appeared on the Dallas Business Journal
Dallas-Fort Worth saw the largest spike in home sales prices in the nation, according to a new study, with home prices up 39.5% over last year.
The jump brought the current median home sales price in DFW to $362,782 in April, according to the latest Re/Max National Housing Report.
Todd Luong, a real estate agent with Re/Max DFW Associates, called the increase “astonishing.”
Breaking it down in some of the popular suburbs north of DFW shows Frisco increased 36.6% over one year ago, McKinney rose 34.2%, and Little Elm climbed 33.9% over one year ago, Luong said.
Luong said that population and job growth are pushing home prices higher across North Texas.
“Corporate relocations have been the primary driver for all this,” he said in an email. “During these past 10 years, office space in Dallas-Fort Worth has increased by over 55 million square feet, and only New York City has had more office space growth.
“During the same 10 years, industrial space in Dallas-Fort Worth grew by 230 million square feet. All this growth means more jobs, and more jobs mean more people are moving here.”
According to Re/Max’s report, in April 2022, the median sales price of all 53 metro areas studied across the U.S. was $420,000, up 3.4% compared to March 2022 and up 15.1% from April 2021.
No metro areas saw a year-over-year decrease in median sales price. Forty-one metro areas increased year-over-year by double-digit percentages, led by DFW’s 39.5%, then Fayetteville, Ark., at +33.4%; Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, at +31.2%; Dover, Delaware, at 29.2%; and Las Vegas, Nev., at 28.6%.
The high price growth affects longtime homeowners and current and recent home buyers and sellers, Luong noted.
He said that appraisal districts have increased 2022 market values significantly across North Texas. On average, he said that home appraisals across Dallas County are up 25% compared to previous years.
“I have never had so many people asking me for help with protesting their property taxes than this year,” Luong said. “I hope there can be property tax relief for homeowners in the future. Otherwise, some people may not be able to afford to live in their current neighborhood anymore. I have clients who have already expressed this concern.”
Although wages have climbed in DFW, home prices are climbing faster, leaving overall housing affordability on the decline, Luong said.
Although prices were up dramatically in DFW, year-over-year sales dropped by 11.9%, falling from 9,767 in April 2021 to 8,602 in April 2022, Re/Max’s stats show. The number of transactions is also down 0.5% from the 8,648 homes sold in March 2022.
Active inventory is up 10.9% in DFW to 7,260 homes in April compared to last year. The average number of days homes were on the market before selling fell to 19 in April compared to 25 days ago.
Sellers, on average, got 101% of the asking price they listed the house at in April, compared to 96% of the list price in April a year ago.
Re/Max’s report includes all homes in the Multiple Listing Service, which includes mainly resale homes. According to another new report, sales prices for newly constructed homes in DFW are also up sharply.