The 447 northwest Dallas suburban pre-owned, single family homes reported sold during September was down 4.5 percent from 468 homes sold during the same month a year ago. This drop comes on the heels of a revised 1.7 percent decrease in sales for August. Given the increasing number of sales that are being reported two to six weeks after the actual transaction close date, it seems likely that final September sale figures ultimately will show a 2 to 3 percent decrease in home sales. Such a revision would boost the annual change in quarterly sales from a 2.6 percent increase to about a 4.1 percent increase.

A more dramatic change in this market during September was the extent to which the inventory of homes available for sale increased. The revised average 3.8 months supply of MLS-listed homes for sale during both August and July grew to 5.3 months in September, a month-to-month increase of nearly 40 percent. It seems likely that the supply of homes available for sale in Southlake, Colleyville, Flower Mound, Coppell, southwest Frisco, west Plano, Keller, Highland Village, Westlake, Grapevine, Trophy Club, Argyle, Double Oak, Bartonville and Copper Canyon will continue to be at or above this level for the next few months. Data maintained by North Texas Real Estate Systems shows the approximately 2,340 northwest Dallas suburbs pre-owned, single family homes listed for sale on October 15 dropped only 1.7 percent from the approximately 2,300 homes listed for sale on October 1.

Despite the falling inventory absorption rate, strong sales over the past summer appear finally to be having some impact on both sale prices and the length of time it takes to sell a home. The typical $250,000 northwest Dallas pre-owned suburban home sold during the past three months was priced at $87.52 per square foot, up .2 percent over the same period a year ago. The per square foot price of the typical $350,000 home was $100.60 per square foot, up 1.2 percent over a year ago, and the typical $450,000 home was up .9 percent, to $113.84 per square foot. Whether or not these increases are a precursor to stronger market conditions, they are at least somewhat broad-based.

Pre-owned northwest Dallas suburban homes sold during October were on the market an average of 76 days. This compares to a revised 75 days on market for homes sold during September and 86 days on market for homes sold in August. While this days on market figure is substantially less than the 100+ days on market it required to sell a home during the past December through March time frame, it still is about 20 percent higher than a year ago.

Market Highs And Lows

The two northwest Dallas suburbs home resale market segments with the largest annual increase in average per square foot prices during the past three months were Trophy Club homes selling for $300,000 to $399,999 and Colleyville homes selling for between $400,000 and $499,999. The per square foot price of an average $350,000 home in Trophy Club increased 12.2 percent to $104.20. The per square foot price of an average $450,000 home in Colleyville was $113.53, up 8.6 percent.

Interestingly, the two market segments with the largest per square foot price decreases were also both in the $400,000 to $499,999 price range. In Highland Village, the price per square foot of an average $450,000 home fell to $102.87, off 8.8 percent from a year ago. The price per square foot of a similarly priced home in southwest Frisco area was $106.78, down 8.5 percent from the previous year.