The Dallas-Fort Worth market is the No. 1 market in the nation for new homes, according to a new report from Metrostudy, a provider of primary and secondary market information to the housing industry.
Dallas-area housing starts increased 3.4% from the first to the second quarter of 2017, the study showed. This makes a total 31,049 new home starts within the past 12 months ending in the second quarter. Housing starts jumped 14% from the second quarter of 2016 to the second quarter of 2017.
Builders in the Dallas area closed 29,865 homes over the past 12 months. This is an increase of 15.2% from the annual closings through the second quarter last year.
“The increase in second quarter closings reflects stronger sales during the first quarter than the end of 2016, however, many builders and communities have hit a price ceiling,” said Paige Shipp, director of Metrostudy’s Dallas-Ft Worth market studies. “With the median new home price in DFW at $320,600, new homebuyers are stretched to the limit of what they can afford.”
“While resale home prices continue to increase, new home prices are stagnant, as compared to 2016,” Shipp said. “In an effort to spur sales, some builders are either reducing prices or minimizing price increases all while costs, including land, labor and materials, march higher.”
The study showed that while housing starts are down for homes under $200,000, higher priced homes increased.
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(Source: Metrostudy)
Although the homes in the first-time buyer market decreased, the increase in homes from $200,000 to $250,000 shows builders are actively battling rising home prices to add more starter homes to the market.
