Nortex Times

North Texas real estate had an impressive start to the year with both home sales and prices rising in January over the same month last year. 

Sales rose by a whopping 21% over last year, according to a report released by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University and North Texas Real Estate Information Systems. January is usually a slow month. 

“I did not expect 2020 to start with such a high number of sales compared to January 2019,” said Bill Head, director of communications for the MetroTex Association of Realtors in an interview with the Texas Business Coalition “Typically, the annual ‘selling season’ doesn’t start until March at the earliest so seeing those sales numbers in January makes me think it could be another record-breaking year in both sales and pricing.” 

Median home prices also went up in January with an increase of 8% over 2019. The increase in the first month of 2019 was just 3% over the previous year. 

The increases are due to a few things, No. 1 being the high volume of buyers and low inventory of homes. 

“Supply/demand led to a very competitive market with multiple offers in many cases,” Head said.

Homes stayed on the market an average of 63 days in January, a 5% increase over last year, according to the Texas A&M report. The month ended with 9,236 pending sales, a 14% increase. 

There are positive outcomes from the rising numbers, including increasing home values for current homeowners and sellers. However, the rising market can also present challenges for first time home buyers that might not have a down payment or equity, Head said. 

“Another negative is the lack of affordable housing.  As the prices increase, you see the homes that many would consider affordable move further and further away from the city,” he said. 

The Texas A&M report shows that the number of homes on the market at the end of January was 20,631; this is 6% less than at the end of January in 2019, meaning there is less inventory available and the opening for rising prices.