Pre-owned, single family homes home sales in the northwest Dallas suburbs during July were up 3.2 percent over the same month a year ago, 707 homes versus 685 homes. As expected, sales belatedly reported to the North Texas Real Estate Information System resulted in June sales also being higher than a year ago, 798 homes versus 786 homes. This brings the number of homes sold during the past three months to a total of 2,194, a 3.1 percent increase over the number of similar homes sold a year ago.

Homes in all price ranges continue to command somewhat higher prices than a year ago, a trend that now has continued for ten straight months. The square foot price of a typical $250,000 pre-owned home sold in the northwest Dallas suburb during the past three months was $90.16 per square foot, up 2.3 percent over the same period a year ago. The typical $350,000 home sold for $102.54 per square foot, also up 2.3 percent over a year ago, and the square foot price of the typical $450,000 home was $115.02 per square foot, up .5 percent over the previous year.

The median price of homes sold during July in Argyle, Bartonville, Coppell, Copper Canyon, Colleyville, Double Oak, Flower Mound, southwest Frisco, Grapevine, Highland Village, Keller, west Plano, Southlake, Trophy Club and Westlake also was again up, coming in at $280,500. This is 5.8 percent higher than the $265,000 median price posted a year ago and 12 percent more than the $250,500 median price posted two years ago.

The number of pre-owned homes listed for sale in the northwest Dallas suburbs continues to be significantly lower than a year ago with approximately 2,120 pre-owned homes listed for sale at the end of July. This is 18.9 percent less than the approximately 2,615 homes listed a year ago and 5.8 percent fewer than the approximately 2,250 homes listed at the end of June.

July's inventory absorption rate of 3.1 months supply weakened slightly from June's revised 2.8 months supply. More importantly, to both buyers and sellers, there now is only about 80 percent of the supply of pre-owned homes available for sale as there was a year ago. In many of the more desirable neighborhoods, where sales are the same or higher than last year, the supply of homes available for sale is even more constricted.

Average days on market for northwest Dallas suburban pre-owned, single family homes sold during July was 55 days, essentially unchanged from the revised 53 days that homes sold during June were listed for sale. At the same time a year ago, similar homes remained on the market for an average of 86 days.

Although the overall annual rate at which northwest Dallas suburban pre-owned, single family home values are appreciating, as measured by per square foot prices, has remained pretty consistently in the .5 to 2.5 percent range for almost a year, overall market conditions seem increasingly to favor acceleration in this growth rate. It should not be too surprising if the lower end of this range increases, over the next few months, to one percent annual appreciation and the higher end of the range rises to five percent, or perhaps even higher.

Market Highs And Lows

The two northwest Dallas suburbs home resale market segments with the largest annual increase in three month average square foot prices were in Southlake and Colleyville. The square foot price of an average $250,000 home in Southlake jumped 10.3 percent to $101.67. Grapevine homes selling for an average $350,000 sale price rose to $105.07 per square foot, a 6.5 percent increase over the previous year price.

Homes in southwest Frisco, selling for between $300,000 and $399,999 showed the largest price decrease, coming in at $95.16 per square foot, down 5.5 percent from the previous year. The average price per square foot of Coppell homes that sold for
between $400,000 and $499,999 averaged $118.79, a 2.2 percent drop.

Southlake, with 2.0 months supply of homes listed for sale, had the lowest inventory of pre-owned homes among all the
northwest Dallas suburbs during July. Colleyville and Coppell were close seconds, each with 2.6 months supply.

The inventory absorption rate was weakest in the Argyle, Bartonville, Copper Canyon and Double Oak area, where 5.5 months supply of homes were available for sale. Southwest Frisco's 4.3 months supply also was significantly higher than the northwest Dallas suburbs overall 3.1 months supply, as was Trophy Club's 4.0 months supply.