For the second straight month, northwest Dallas suburban pre-owned home sale volume has trended up sharply. The 548 homes sold in April represent a 39.1 percent increase over the 394 homes sold during April a year ago. Additionally, the 19.1 percent sales growth previously reported for March has been revised up, to 24.5 percent. When added to February's 9 percent sales growth, again revised up from the 6.9 percent increase reported last month, home sales for the past quarter are up a remarkable 25 percent over a year ago.

Other market indicators also are pointing to stronger market conditions. The average inventory of homes listed for sale dropped to a 4.7 months supply from a revised 4.8 months supply during March and 6.4 months supply during February. It is noteworthy that the supply of homes listed for sale during April was lower in all price ranges than during March.

For the first time in five months, the average days on market of MLS-listed pre-owned homes was less than 100 days, coming in at 92 days. Still, this is exceedingly high. A year ago it was taking an average of 64 days to sell similar northwest Dallas suburban properties and two years ago it was taking an average of 56 days. Nevertheless, if the number of houses continues to increase more slowly than the increase in the number of houses being sold, as it has during the past few months, we can expect average days on market to soon fall back into a more acceptable range.

Per square foot price increases / decreases within various price ranges are arguably most indicative of the direction and velocity of pricing trends. Measured this way, home prices in the northwest Dallas suburban communities of Southlake, Colleyville, Flower Mound, Coppell, southwest Frisco, west Plano, Keller, Highland Village, Westlake, Grapevine, Trophy Club, Argyle, Double Oak, Bartonville and Copper Canyon continue to increase in a slow, but consistent manner. For the three months ending in April, the price per square foot of the typical $250,000 home sold in this area was $88.52, up 1.9 percent over the same period a year ago. The typical $350,000 home sold for $101.03 per square foot, up .9 percent over a year ago, and price per square foot of the typical $450,000 home was up 1 percent, to $113.56.

However, the market metric most closely watched by both buyers and sellers probably is the increase / decrease in the average price of homes. As was the case in February, the average sales price of homes sold in this area during the past three months is up 7-plus percent over the average sale price of a year ago. Again, this for the most part is due to the mix of homes sold containing a higher percentage of larger and more expensively constructed homes than it did the previous year. Overall, the average pre-owned home price in the communities listed above was $302,900.

The average sale price of pre-owned homes in the Argyle, Bartonville, Copper Canyon and Double Oak area during the past three months was $367,100, a price jump of 24.3 percent over the average price of a year ago. In Flower Mound, the average sale price increased 13.9 percent, to 237,100. In southwest Frisco, it increased 13.2 percent, to $421,000, and Colleyville experienced a 4.1 percent increase to $358,600.

The average price of existing Keller homes rose 3.7 percent, to $222,300, during the past three months. In Grapevine the average sale price rose 2.2 percent, to $192,300, and in Southlake it increased 1.4 percent, to $438,700. The average price of Highland Village homes was $233,900, up 1.3 percent.

Three northwest Dallas suburban communities experienced price drops. The average price of pre-owned homes in Coppell was $241,000, down .5 percent, and in west Plano it decreased 2.6 percent, to $551,200. The average price of pre-owned Trophy Club homes was $188,700, down 10.7 percent.