A slight dip in mortgage rates was enough to ignite a surge of home buying activity in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Existing home sales in the region increased by more than 14 percent year-over-year in January, ranking second in the nation behind only Salt Lake City, the Dallas Business Journal reported, citing the Re/Max National Housing Report.
There were 5,208 home sales in DFW last month, compared to 4,560 in January 2023. The number of showings also skyrocketed by almost 41 percent year-over-year, while inventory rose by 79 percent.
The average days on market was 55 last month, one day faster than the same period last year.
Mark Wolfe, president and owner of Re/Max DFW Associates, sees this trend as a sign of an “early spring real estate market,” noting a larger pool of buyers and sellers.
“Our market is strong because of people moving into the Dallas area,” Wolfe told the outlet. “We have a significant amount of people moving in from other parts of Texas, from California, from all over the nation.”
The economic landscape, characterized by easing inflation and steady home sale prices, further bolsters confidence in the housing market’s resilience. Despite inflationary pressures and higher interest rates last year, home sale prices rose 1.6 percent year-over-year to a median of $381,103 in January.
Homebuilding has slowed across the region amid high mortgage rates and construction costs. But some DFW suburbs have seen a massive influx of new homes, such as Princeton and Celina, where single-family building permits increased by 64 and 52 percent, respectively, last year.
—Quinn Donoghue
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