Dallas-Fort Worth topped the nation in new apartment completions last year — finishing almost 28,000 new rental units in 2017.
According to RealPage, the metro area’s 27,974 completions were part of the 395,777 completions for the 150 largest metro markets nationwide for the year. New York City’s 23,207 came in second, and Houston was third place with 21,404 new units. Austin made the top 10 with 10,907 apartment completions.
That uptick is 40 percent more than 2016 and double the long-term yearly average. The market is expected to see deliveries for the coming year hit around 300,000 units, which is down from last year’s high, but still about 60 percent higher than the historical norm.
Home Prices Up Nationally, Locally
Home prices in the Dallas metro area surged slightly ahead of the national average by the end of last year, CoreLogic, but the same report revealed that homes are overvalued.
The report revealed that home prices for the Dallas-Plano-Irving area were up 6.9 percent at the end of 2017, while nationally home prices increased 6.6 percent. Home prices in the area have increased by more than 40 percent in the last four years, but CoreLogic says the housing market is overvalued because home prices are at least 10 percent higher than the long-term, sustainable level.
Standard & Poor’s S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller national home price index saw an increase of 6.2 percent year-over-year in November, making it the 16th month that the national housing index has registered annual gains of at least 5 percent.
Americans Still Want To Buy Homes, But Prices Hold Them Back
Americans still want to buy homes, but a lack of affordable housing seems to be holding them back, a national buyers profile revealed this week.
The National Association of Realtors fourth-quarter Aspiring Home Buyers Profile revealed that 91 percent of homeowners and 80 percent of non-homeowners believe homeownership is part of the American dream.
Of those that do not yet own homes, 58 percent said they believe it’s a good time to buy, too — but many (56 percent) say they’re hamstrung by a lack of affordable options and the task of saving a down payment (36 percent).
Despite that, those prospective homeowners say they haven’t given up on the idea — 82 percent said they plan to buy a home in the future.