Annual appreciation in the market value of pre-owned, single family northwest Dallas suburban homes, as measured by average price per square foot sold during the past three months, held steady through November at 4.4 percent, the same as at the end of October. November also marked the twelfth consecutive month that the three month average prices of homes selling for between $200,000 and $299,999, between $300,000 and $399,999, and between $400,000 and $499,999 all were higher than during the same period a year earlier.

Home prices in this area continued to increase despite, for the first time since April 2005 and only the second time since August 2004, monthly sale volume being lower than previous year same month sales, and the supply of homes listed for sale in November reaching a seven month high.

Prices likely were buoyed somewhat by the fact that while monthly sales volume was down, it was not down very much. November sales of 438 pre-owned homes in Argyle, Bartonville, Coppell, Copper Canyon, Colleyville, Double Oak, Flower Mound, southwest Frisco, Grapevine, Highland Village, Keller, west Plano, Southlake, Trophy Club and Westlake were off only 3.3 percent from the 453 homes sold in this area a year ago. With the additional sales that are probably yet to be reported, November's drop in sales is likely to wind up somewhere in the 1.5 to 2.5 percent range. Even without these revisions, quarterly sales still are up 7.8 percent over a year ago.

It is important to note that November 2004 sales were up a whopping 35.6 percent over same month sales for the previous year. While not quite as big an increase, November 2005 sales also were up, by 31.1 percent, when compared to November 2003 sales. In this same vein, the seven month high of 4.0 months supply of homes listed for sale posted in November was, at the same time, down 12.5 percent from the 4.6 months supply of available homes during November last year.

The square foot price of a typical $250,000 home sold during the three months ending in November was $89.73, a 2.1 percent increase over the price at which a similar home sold a year ago. The typical $350,000 home sold for $104.76 per square foot, up 4.9 percent over a year ago, and the square foot price of the typical $450,000 home rose to $120.74 per square foot, a 3.9 percent increase.

Another indication of continuing strength in the northwest Dallas suburbs home market was that just over 1,700 homes were reported by Texas Real Estate Information Systems as available for sale at the end of November. This is about 14 percent fewer homes than were listed for sale at this time last year, and 5.4 percent fewer than the slightly more than 1,800 homes listed for sale at the end of October.

The median price of pre-owned homes in the northwest Dallas suburbs sold during November was again up, to $273,500. This is 13.3 percent higher than the $241,500 median price posted a year ago and up 18.9 percent from the $230,000 median price of homes sold in this area during November two years ago.

Average days on market of homes sold during November was 63 days, up just slightly from the 62 days it took to sell a home during both October and September. It also was down about 13 percent from a year ago, when an average of 72 days were required to sell a northwest Dallas suburban pre-owned, single family home.

Market Highs And Lows

The northwest Dallas suburbs home resale market segment with the largest annual increase in its three month average per square foot price was in Grapevine. The square foot price of the average $350,000 home there advanced 12.1 percent to $108.18. Southlake homes selling for $300,000 to $399,999, on average, sold for $107.44 per square foot, up 9.5 percent above their previous year price.

Homes in Trophy Club, selling for an average of $450,000 showed the largest price decrease, coming in at $98.71 per square foot, which is down 5.0 percent from the previous year. The average price per square foot of Argyle, Bartonville, Copper Canyon and Double Oak area homes that sold for between $300,000 and $399,999 averaged $99.37, a 4.1 percent drop.

Flower Mound, with a 2.6 months supply of homes listed for sale, had the lowest inventory of pre-owned homes among all the northwest Dallas suburbs during November. Grapevine was second lowest with a 2.9 months supply.

The inventory absorption rate again was longest in the Argyle, Bartonville, Copper Canyon and Double Oak area, where 12.7 months supply of homes were available for sale. Trophy Club had the next longest inventory absorption rate with 6.7 months supply.