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22It’s August in North Texas, and housing inventory is still low. For the month of July, the number of houses listed for sale was down 7 percent from last year. We’re seeing about half the number of homes for sale that we usually see. Many agents believed that the rise in prices and the flood of buyers looking for homes would encourage more people to put their homes on the market. That just hasn’t happened.
“The fact of the matter is that demand continues to outstrip supply, so there has been no reaccumulation of listing inventory,” said Ted Wilson, principal with Dallas-based housing analyst Residential Strategies. “As a result, the months’ supply of inventory remains near a record low.”
The short supply of homes for sale in North Texas has stifled home sales in 2014. In July, 9,578 homes sold, which is just a 3 percent increase from a year ago. Up to the end of July the number of homes is actually down 1% over last year, according to the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University and the North Texas Real Estate Information Systems.
Although the total number of homes isn’t rising fast, activity is still high, and prices are still rising.
The median home price in North Texas rose 7 percent from a year ago to $196,500. Homes prices are about 40 percent higher that they were in the depths of the recession in early 2010. Since there are so many buyers still looking for homes , most homes sell in an average of 44 days, according to the Real Estate Research Center.
Most of our homes are receiving multiple offers, and many are selling within the first few days of listing.
I’ve encountered many people who would like to sell, but are afraid to put their homes on the market because they’re not sure they could find a home to buy.
There are also a large number of homes that never get entered into the MLS system. Many buyers see a “Coming Soon” sign and call their agent before the home goes on the market.
“There are a lot of ‘hip pocket’ listings that never make it to the market,” Wilson said. “Realtors share with me that they really don’t have much of a problem moving a good property today. So when a prospective property has an indication that it may be ready to come to the market, I think it is not uncommon for a Realtor firm to match that property up with a pre-identified buyer they have been working with, thereby ensuring that the Realtor firm gets to handle both sides of the transaction,” he said.
But Rich Thomas, CEO of the MetroTex Association of Realtors, says that the impact of off-market sales is exaggerated.
“I don’t think the off-market listings have as much to do with it as people think,” Thomas said. “I am of the opinion that the rate of sales is simply accelerating at a much faster clip than the rate of new inventory coming on the market.
“I think it is incredible that by year-end, despite the limited inventory, we will exceed the record-breaking number of sales we had in 2013.”