Dallas-FW housing sales fall 5%

Prices slid 2% in December, marking the end of a difficult year

12:00 AM CST on Tuesday, January 9, 2007
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News

The Dallas-Fort Worth housing market ended 2006 with another month of declines.

Sales in December were down 5 percent from a year earlier, and prices were 2 percent lower, according to statistics released Monday by the North Texas Real Estate Information System.

"December results look like a continuation of the pattern we have seen all year – home sales generally lower than last year and prices flat to slightly higher," said real estate agent Bob Edmonson of Allie Beth Allman & Associates.

December was the seventh consecutive month of lower pre-owned home sales in North Texas.

Based on last year's monthly declines, total home sales were down about 5 percent for the year.

It was the fourth consecutive month that home prices were down from the previous year. However, median sales prices were up about 2 percent during the year.

Some of the largest sales declines in 2006 were centered in homes priced under $150,000, where buyers were affected more by higher mortgage rates.

Sales of high-priced homes continued to rise last year. The number of homes sold for $1 million or more increased 18 percent.

With pending home sales running about 6 percent higher than this time last year, sales agents are closely watching to see if the market moves higher in 2007.

"We Realtors are an optimistic lot, and January always marks the beginning of the spring market," Mr. Edmonson said.

Industry analysts say it's too early to tell whether 2007 will be a better year for the housing market.

"January and February will probably still have some decline – normal cyclicality," said Jim Gaines, an economist with Texas A&M University's Real Estate Center. "By March and April, expect an uptick. If not, Dallas may have a rough 2007, but I don't think it will."

At the end of December, 41,598 pre-owned single-family homes were on the market in North Texas, 9 percent more than a year earlier.

On average, it took 76 days to sell a house – up slightly from 2005.

But the area still has less than a six-month supply of homes to sell, which is considered healthy.

And with a median price of less than $150,000, Dallas-Fort Worth is one of the most affordable big-city markets in the country.

Jim Fite, president of Dallas-based Century 21 Judge Fite Co., said gross sales commissions at his company were up in 2006.

"We ended up having a very good year," Mr. Fite said. "I'm very happy compared with what's going on around the rest of the country."

Question: What's a New Year's resolution you wish your local leaders would make for 2007?

12:00 AM CST on Saturday, December 30, 2006

Approve public funding of elections like the Clean Elections law in Arizona.

Lynn Walters, Irving

I wish the city leaders of Lewisville would not clear-cut any more land for buildings that end up empty. When we moved here 18 years ago, there were trees and fields everywhere. Now, all I see are empty shopping centers and storage buildings.

Jennifer Lane, Lewisville

My hope for the new year is that the Bedford City Council members will really strive to understand the issue and hear more than one side before they vote on a resolution or ordinance.

Debbie Schmid, Bedford

I wish that state legislators would be more concerned about clean air than about the bottom line of TXU and the cement kilns in Midlothian. They are allowing these companies to reap unnecessary profits at the expense of the air quality of the entire area. Our elected officials should be demanding that these companies use the best available technology to reduce emissions.

Lois Day, Irving

Stop issuing building permits for commercial and multifamily developments without more-than sufficient infrastructure in place to support them: roads, water, drainage, electricity, green space. All the tax benefits in the world we may derive from new commercial entities cannot make up for the heavy traffic, water shortages, poor roads, flooding, crowding and loss of the country-living atmosphere for which we moved here.

Gale David, Flower Mound

It is my eternal wish that the City Council in Irving would make a serious and immediate plan to upgrade and even save the numerous older neighborhoods in Irving that have deteriorated dramatically in recent years. They are breeding places for crime and are causing longtime, good families to leave our town. This issue gets serious discussion at election time only, and after elections, no one exercises the leadership to make a difference.

Nell Anne Hunt, Irving

Return to focusing on common sense instead of teamwork – common sense usually leads to teamwork. The other way around usually leads to the tail wagging the dog and the will of the taxpayers being ignored.

Sue Richardson, Irving

Nov. 10 front page: "Legislators slam record TXU profits." How about a resolution to follow through on getting this back under control?

Butch Murden, Irving

Try telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I wish they would also do what we, the people, ask them to do and not what they think is best and in their self-interest.

Alfred Hersh, Carrollton

When they say they will help education, please spend some time in schools and classrooms to see what will really help education.

Tammie Gurley, Lewisville

Protect property owners from having their land taken, and protect citizens from taxation when used for private economic development in the form of sports stadiums, condos, retail shops, private toll roads, etc. Quit wasting millions and millions of dollars in tax money on "pet" boondoggle projects!

Linda Lancaster, Arlington

Enforce our laws, and cut wasteful spending of tax dollars.

Janice Grimm, Denton

Stay focused. It seems as though things sometimes get so sidetracked that nothing gets accomplished. Make a list, and mark things off as they get done!

Judy Gaman, Southlake

Stop raising taxes and spending. In Arlington, we have a problem with the City Council loving to do both.

Richard Weber, Arlington

Make it known to us what they are doing for the public! Promises made, promises kept, promises in progress! That way, we can intelligently determine if we want to keep or change them.

Shirley Gordon Jackson, Arlington