Dallas Home Prices Jump 14% in May

Dallas Home Prices Jump 14% in May

North Texas home prices jumped by 14 percent in May – one of the largest year-over-year gains ever for the area.  Median home sales prices hit a record $215,000 last month for preowned single-family homes sold by real estate agents.  Home sales were up 6 percent from May 2014 with 9,484 properties sold.  It was the largest one-month sales total ever for North Texas, according to data from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University and the North Texas Real Estate Information Systems.  With the strong sales, the number of homes listed with real estate agents in the area dropped 15 percent from this same time in 2014. There was a 2.4-month supply of homes in real estate agents’ multiple listing service, less than half of what is considered a normal inventory.  May’s strong home sales and price spike will put more pressure on the local housing market which is stretched with more buyers than sellers.  National surveys show that the Dallas-Fort Worth area is seeing the largest annual home price gains in the country. Prices here are rising at about three times the long-term average rate of residential appreciation for the area.

-         Dallas Morning News, June 9, 2015

North Texas Median Home Prices Soar Above $200,000

North Texas Median Home Prices Soar Above $200,000

This spring’s scorching home market has propelled median house sales prices in North Texas above $200,000 for the first time.  In April, home sales prices in the area were up 14 percent to a record $207,000.  With the latest gains, the median price of preowned single-family homes sold by real estate agents in North Texas is almost 60 percent higher than it was in January 2010, at the worst of the recession.   And home prices in the area are now more than a third ahead of where they were at the previous peak of the housing market in 2007.  “The average home listing price has also jumped up for homes coming on the market,” said Ted Wilson, a housing analyst with Dallas-based Residential Strategies Inc. “More people are motivated to put their houses on the market at these higher prices.”  The Dallas area now leads the country in year-over-year home price increases, according to the latest national comparison from CoreLogic Inc.  In April, median prices were rising at about three times the long-term average annual growth rate.   April’s substantial increase in home sales prices in North Texas comes as some analysts are warning that residential values in Texas’ major markets are overheating.  A new report by Wall Street analysts Fitch Ratings said that Texas and Dallas-area home prices are 11 percent overvalued.

-          Dallas Morning News, May 8, 2015

For 11th Straight Year Texas Ranks as Top State to do Business

For 11th Straight Year Texas Ranks as Top State to do Business

CEO Magazine’s 11th annual survey of the “Best States to do Business” was released Friday and Texas topped the rankings for the 11th year in a row.  The news had Texas Governor Greg Abbott on cloud nine, saying the state won’t stop at its top ranking.  “Everything is bigger in Texas, and that includes our business climate,” Abbott said. “Despite being the number one state to do business for 11 consecutive years, Texas will do even more to empower businesses and increase economic expansion. That’s why I’m promoting policies to cut the business franchise tax, further rein in regulatory regimes and elevate our higher education system to bolster our workforce so that Texas keeps creating jobs and opportunity.”  In the rankings, Texas was ahead of Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia which rounded out the Top 5. California was once again the worst state for a second year.  The rankings takes into account state GDP, unemployment, domestic migration, state government and state-local tax burden.

-          Dallas Morning News, May 8, 2015

Brinkmann Ranch – 500 New Homes – Begins in Frisco

The historic Brinkmann Ranch in frisco

Brinkmann Ranch –  500 New Homes – Begins in Frisco

More Homes to Follow

The sale of a key Frisco property will bring a new neighborhood with hundreds of homes, the first of potentially thousands of new homes to Frisco.  Plano-based homebuilder John Landon said Monday that he has bought part of the 3,500-acre Brinkmann Ranch – one of the largest undeveloped properties in Frisco.   Landon bought about 200 acres on the east side of the ranch on Coit Road.  His Landon Homes plans to begin construction soon on the new neighborhood.   “Landon also has an option to buy more property at Brinkmann Ranch.  The sprawling property located between Preston and Coit roads has for years been one of the most sought after development sites in Collin County.  Owner Baxter Brinkmann has been working with the City of Frisco to plan the property for multiple uses.

-          Dallas Morning News, February 24, 2015

A New 39-story Condo High Rise in the Arts District

      

The new 39-story condo next to Museum Tower    David Weekley InTown at 3 Locations

A New 39-story Condo High Rise in the Arts District

A 39-story tower planned for downtown Dallas’ Arts District will contain luxury apartments, artist lofts and retail space at Flora and Olive streets.   Developers will build a 39-story residential tower on one of the last vacant sites in the downtown Dallas Arts District.  The project at Flora and Olive streets is right next door to the Museum Tower and a block south of Klyde Warren Park.    The development will have 370 luxury apartments, 39 artists’ lofts and about 12,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space on the one-acre site between the Nasher Sculpture Center and the Meyerson Symphony Center.  “It’s a dense, urban project,” said Dallas architect Graham Greene, one of the partners in the project. “We took our inspiration from what has been done in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco in their downtowns.   “It helps complete the Arts District — we have storefront retail all along Flora,” Greene said. “It adds a population of 400 to 500 residents, which is huge.”   Construction begins fourth quarter 2015.

-          Dallas Morning News, February 25, 2015

Top 5 Job Growth Cities in US

“Absolutely Phenomenal”

The Dallas-Fort Worth area added more jobs than any other metropolitan area in 2014, a feat it hadn’t achieved in at least two decades.  D-FW gained 136,900 jobs last year, followed by the New York area with 129,000 jobs, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Houston area was No. 3, with 120,600 jobs. The figures are not seasonally adjusted.  December was the first time that D-FW has ranked No. 1 in calendar-year net job growth since at least 1990, when the BLS began compiling comparable state and local records. Texas also led the nation in job creation last year, adding 457,900 jobs.  Bud Weinstein, an economist at Southern Methodist University, called D-FW’s 4.4 percent job growth rate last year “absolutely phenomenal.”   The 2014 job growth rates for both D-FW and Houston (4.2 percent) beat the state rate of 4 percent.- Dallas Morning News, February 4, 2015