For now the eighth straight month, average per square foot prices of pre-owned, single-family homes sold in the northwest Dallas suburbs continued to increase across the board. The typical $250,000 home sold during the past three months was priced at $89.69 per square foot, up 1.1 percent over the same period a year ago. The per square foot price of the typical $350,000 home was $102.69 per square foot, up 1.6 percent over a year ago, and the typical $450,000 home was up 1.8 percent, to $115.89 per square foot.

The median price of homes sold during April in Argyle, Bartonville, Coppell, Copper Canyon, Colleyville, Double Oak, Flower Mound, southwest Frisco, Grapevine, Highland Village, Keller, west Plano, Southlake, Trophy Club and Westlake was $275,000. This is a 12.5 percent increase over the $244,500 median price posted a year ago and a 19.6 percent increase over the $229,900 median price posted in April two years ago.

April pre-owned home sales were down 6.3 percent, as compared to the same month a year ago, 533 homes versus 569 homes. This resulted in the number of homes sold during the past 3 months dropping back to a 1.4 percent increase over the number of homes sold during the same 3 months period a year ago. For the past 12 months, however, sale volume still is up significantly at 11.2 percent.

While monthly sales were down, so too were the number of homes listed for sale. Data maintained by North Texas Real Estate Systems shows approximately 2,300 homes available for sale at the end of April, a 13.2 percent drop from the approximated 2,650 homes listed a year ago.

This is causing the inventory of homes listed for sale to more or less tread water. The revised average 4.1 months supply of MLS-listed homes for sale during March grew only slightly, to 4.2 months in April. My best guess is the supply of northwest Dallas suburban homes available for sale will remain at or below this level for the next few month.

Average days on market for northwest Dallas suburban pre-owned homes sold continued to trend down during April, to 66 days. This compares to 73 average days on market during March and 81 days in February. Similar homes sold during April 2004 were listed for an average of 92 days.

Notwithstanding April's hiccup in the number of homes sold, these market indicators point to overall market conditions continuing to slowly grow stronger. It also seems likely that home prices will continue to increase at the measured pace we have seen during the past few months.

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 Keller homes selling for $300,000 to $399,999 and Flower Mound homes selling for between $400,000 and $499,999. The per square foot price of an average $350,000 home in Keller increased 11.8 percent to $104.03. The per square foot price of an average $450,000 home in Flower Mound was $114.74, up 7.2 percent.

Interestingly, the market segments with the largest per square foot price decreases were also both in the $400,000 to $499,999 price range. In Southlake, the price per square foot of an average $450,000 home fell to $106.42, off 6.8 percent from a year ago. The price per square foot of a similarly priced home in Keller was $108.40, down 4.1 percent from the previous year.