December sales of pre-owned, single family homes in the northwest Dallas suburbs essentially matched sales for the same month a year ago, 442 homes this December versus 443 homes a year ago. When additional sales not yet reported eventually come in, sales closed during this December will almost certainly exceed sales closed during the previous December.

November's pre-owned, single family sales were revised upward from being off 3.3 percent, when compared to same month previous year sales, to being off only .7 percent. For the past three months, a total of 1,383 homes have now been reported sold, an increase of 4.2 percent over the 1,327 homes reported sold during the same three month period a year ago.

What makes this more interesting is that while sale volume is holding pretty steady, December's 3.6 months supply of pre-owned homes was down 15.1 percent from the 4.3 months supply available a year ago, and 37.9 percent less than 5.8 months supply available two years ago. Along this same vein, approximately 1,500 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 reported to North Texas Real Estate Information Systems as available for sale at the end of December, a 13.2 percent decrease from the approximately 1,700 homes available a month earlier and a 16.7 percent decrease from the nearly 1,800 homes available the same time a year ago.

Annual appreciation of pre-owned, single family homes in this area is tracking pretty closely with what it has been for the past several months. As measured by average price per square foot, the price of homes sold during the past three months was 4.2 percent higher than homes sold during the same three months the prior year. This compares to an annual appreciation rate of 4.4 percent for the three month periods ending in both October and November.

For the thirteenth straight month, 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. The square foot price of a typical $250,000 home sold during the three months ending in December was $90.86, a 3.1 percent increase over the price at which a similar home sold a year ago. The typical $350,000 home sold for $103.87 per square foot, up 3.7 percent over a year ago, and the square foot price of the typical $450,000 home rose to $121.60 per square foot, a 4.1 percent increase.

Average days on market of homes sold during December was 63 days, up just slightly from the 62 days it took to sell a home during September, October and November. It also was down about 13 percent from a year ago, when 73 days on average were required to sell a northwest Dallas suburban pre-owned, single family home.

The median price of pre-owned homes in the northwest Dallas suburbs sold during December also was again up, to $275,500. This is 12.3 percent higher than the $245,250 median price posted a year ago and up 6.0 percent from the $260,000 median price of homes sold in this area during December two years ago.

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 Southlake. The square foot price of the average $350,000 home there advanced 12.5 percent to $107.90. Keller homes selling for $400,000 to $499,999, on average, sold for $114.31 per square foot, up 9.6 percent above their previous year price.

In the largest price decrease/least price increase category, homes in Colleyville, selling for an average of $250,000 showed the largest price decrease, coming in at $89.64 per square foot, down 5.7 percent from the previous year. The average price per square foot of Flower Mound homes that sold for between $400,000 and $499,999 averaged $113.76, a 1.2 percent increase.

Flower Mound and Grapevine again had the lowest inventory of pre-owned homes among the northwest Dallas suburbs, each with a 2.5 months supply of homes. Coppell was third lowest with a 3.2 months supply of homes listed for sale.

Colleyville, at 7.2 months supply of homes available for sale, had the highest inventory level in December. After three months in the cellar, the Argyle, Bartonville, Copper Canyon and Double Oak area, moved to next to last place with a 5.6 months supply of homes available for sale.