Just in Time for Turkey Day: Some Good Real Estate News!
October home sales were up, nationally, a whopping 10% from September, all due to the first-time home-buyer credit’s pending expiration date. Which means you can count on two things in human nature and real estate: we embrace anything that gets us out of paying taxes, even if it’s buying a home, and we all procrastinate.
That’s good news, indeed. The Debbie Downer in this is that home prices were down seven percent to a median average of about $174,000, which is really OK because the market was full of hot air anyhow. And remember, when we talk about the first-time home buyer’s credit, we are talking average priced homes that can qualify for FHA financing. In Dallas, that means anything under $417,000. The high-end luxury market here and everywhere continues to lag and languish. Second home sales are almost dead, but many developers are going fractional — more on that later.
More sunshine: I am told there was a flurry of high end Dallas closings in October that made some agents kick up their heels. And there’s a home in Preston Hollow with a “dancing pole” in the master bedroom? Do stay tuned.
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When a particular price segment of the market is stimulated (such has been the case with the tax credit), both median and average prices are affected even if homes are still selling at the same price levels. That seems to be the case for October to a large degree.