Home prices, as well as a number of other northwest Dallas County suburban home market indicators, continued in August to track pretty closely with where they have been over the past three to five months. Inventory absorption rate also was basically unchanged, and so too was average number of days on market.

The typical $250,000 northwest Dallas suburban home sold during the past three months was priced at $87.70 per square foot, up .7 percent over the same period a year ago. The per square foot price of the typical $350,000 home was $100.06 per square foot, down .1 percent over a year ago, and the typical $450,000 home was down .5 percent to $113.13 per square foot. Home prices being about the same as they were the prior year, of course, are nothing new. That has been a pretty constant refrain in Market Watch since it first was published nearly two years ago.

Average days on market for pre-owned northwest Dallas suburban homes sold during August remained steady at 88 days. This compares to 89 average days on market in July and 90 days on market in both June and May.

August's 4.0 months supply inventory absorption rate was up slightly from a revised 3.9 months supply in July, but it marked the fourth straight month that the supply of pre-owned homes available for sale in this area was four months or less. It certainly is worth noting that this sustained differential between the number of homes sold and the number of homes available for sale is significantly less than a year ago.

During the past three months, 216 more MLS-listed northwest Dallas suburban homes were sold than the 1,870 homes sold during the same three months a year ago, an increase of 11.6 percent. Sales during the past quarter also were up 24.8 percent over sales two years ago and 40.2 percent over sales three years ago. While monthly sales were off 5.7 percent in August as compared to a year ago, the 625 homes that sold also represented a 23.8 percent increase over the 505 homes sold during the same month two years ago and a 25.5 percent increase over the 488 homes sold three years ago.

At the end of August a year ago, about 2,700 pre-owned homes were available for sale in the northwest Dallas suburbs of Southlake, Colleyville, Flower Mound, Coppell, southwest Frisco, west Plano, Keller, Highland Village, Westlake, Grapevine, Trophy Club, Argyle, Double Oak, Bartonville and Copper Canyon. Now, about 2,450 homes are listed for sale, a decrease of approximately 9.25 percent. This combination of higher sale volume and less inventory means the average northwest Dallas suburban homebuyer now has about 20 percent more competition when buying a home than a year ago.

All these market factors, except average days on market of course, tend to produce upward pressure on home prices. Provided national and local economic conditions continue to improve, it seems to be a pretty good bet that when average days on market begin to fall back into the normal 40 to 60 day range, the increase in home prices that area home sellers have long awaited probably will not lag too far behind. No one knows when this will occur, but if I were thinking about buying a northwest Dallas suburban home for the lowest price possible, average days on market is something I would be watching closely.