As a result of Covid, the DFW housing market is transitioning into a seller’s market, according Jeanie Marten, owner of Jeanie Marten Real Estate. Although inventory is lower than usual, home sales are seeing quick turnaround time and even multiple offers. According to the MetroTex Association of REALTORS data, Dallas County active listings have decreased 19.9% YOY, from June 2019 to June 2020. However, home sales have increased by 8.6%. Kaufman County (where the city of Fort Worth is located) has seen the same direction of results, but a bit more extreme, with active listings decreasing by 22% YOY from June 2019 to June 2020, and home sales increasing by 47.7%.
Low interest rates have a great contribution to the current environment of the market, but inventory and demand have pushed it to be supply-side. Camden Homes began pre-selling a new Dallas development in May 2020, and by mid-August reached the cap on seller financing deals. To date, the development has pre-sold half of the available lots. The Camden Homes Sales Team expects the Kensington Valley development to sell out within the next 6 months, and although August usually sees a slowdown of closings and pipelines starting to clear up, August 2020 remained steady. Whether or not this was an effect of Covid is unclear.
As for new home sales, after seeing a significant dip in the months during and after lockdown, Dallas now sees a continued rebound, with new homes pre-selling more and being on the market for less days than pre-covid. The trend is expected to remain strong both locally and state-wide. New home prices, on the other hand, have been falling during the same time. Camden Homes has not dropped prices, as the business model already allows for low prices versus other entry-level homebuilders. According to the HomesUSA.com New Home Sales Index, the average number of days on market in DFW fell from June to July 2020, from 97.21 days to 96.81. The number is expected to continue to slowly fall.
