New home sales in North Texas reach three-year high

Dallas, Texas - The residential real estate market in North Texas observed a remarkable uptick in new home sales last month, according to an assessment by HomesUSA.com.

The number of new home transactions averaged at 2,191 over the previous three months, demonstrating a significant increase from April's average of 2,078. Meanwhile, pending sales depicted a marginal decline, settling at 2,706 in May, down from 2,713 the previous month.

Additionally, the average cost of new homes witnessed an increase in May, with the price surging to $492,762, an approximate $5,000 increment from April's average price of $487,799. HomesUSA.com's CEO, Ben Caballero, associated this rise to a combination of seasonal influences and the strong economy of Dallas-Fort Worth.

Caballero said, “New home sales set a three-year high in the Dallas-Fort Worth area last month and continue to impress, due to builders’ resilience and our robust local economy.”

The comprehensive survey by Tomlin Investments unveiled a minor growth in the number of building permits for new single-family homes in suburban areas north of Dallas. However, the figures have not surpassed the total count for the current year in most regions when compared to the previous year.

Distinct areas presented different scenarios. For instance, in Celina, the number of building permits for new homes observed an increase, rising from 250 in April to 295 in May. Conversely, Frisco's residential construction landscape reported a decline of 39% year-to-date in home building permits.

Conversely, Denton experienced a downturn in new home construction permits, with 411 issued this year compared to 525 during the same period in 2022. This data paints a picture of a struggling housing construction market across several North Texas regions.

HomesUSA's recent report also shed light on the average time it took to sell a new home in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, which extended to 119.8 days in May, up from 117.5 days in April.

“The three-month moving average for Dallas-Fort Worth active listings is decreasing, Houston and San Antonio are slightly lower, and Austin appears to be topping,” Caballero added.

In terms of the existing home market, there has been a noticeable deceleration in sales and a drop in prices compared to last year. The Dallas-Fort Worth area has seen an increase in the time taken to sell a home, which jumped to 37 days, up from 15 days the previous year, according to Re/Max's report.

The report also highlighted a 4.5% reduction in the median home sale prices in Dallas-Fort Worth in May compared to the previous year, with the median price standing at $402,000, down from $427,881.

Moreover, home sales in the Dallas-Fort Worth area experienced a decline year over year, with a total of 9,336 homes sold in May 2023, marking a 4.6% decrease from the 9,789 transactions in May 2022, as per Dallas Metro News.