Dallas-Fort Worth is at the top of a list ranking the best cities for science, technology, engineering, and math jobs, the new home market is percolating in DFW, and we find out where North Texas falls in a look at underwater mortgages and home equity, all in this week’s roundup of real estate news.
Dallas-Fort Worth Tops List of Best Cities for STEM Jobs
Dallas-Fort Worth took the top spot nationally in a ranking of best cities for STEM jobs, AEI Housing Center announced last week.
The metro area was top in the nation overall, but seventh in employment with 249,610 jobs, and fourth in employment growth in those field since 1990. It also ranked ninth in the nation in home affordability.
Houston was ranked second and Austin fourth.
Source: AEI Housing Center
DFW Sees Uptick in New Home Sales, Prices, and Pace
Dallas-Fort Worth saw new home sales, prices, and sales pace get a bump in April, HomesUSA.com said last week.
But don’t get too excited — pending new home sales were down locally and statewide. DFW’s were lower for a fifth straight month, with pending sales in April of 1,180 and 1,273 in March.
“Dallas-Ft. Worth’s new home market last month has several bright spots, but the future looks a bit cloudy,” said Addison-based Ben Caballero, owner of HomesUSA.com. “Despite a strong month for new homes overall, pending home sales numbers remain a troubling number.”
The HomeUSA.com New Home Sales Index for DFW showed average days on market for new home sales of 115.45 days in April, improved from March’s 115.70 days.
New home sales were up ever so slightly, from 1,347 in March to 1,352 in April. Prices were higher as well — the average new home price in DFW in April was $374,847, compared to $373,262 in March.
Source: HomesUSA.com
Underwater Properties Increase From Last Year Nationally
At the end of the first quarter of 2019, more than 5.2 million U.S. properties were seriously underwater, ATTOM Data Solutions reported in its Q1 2019 U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report.
Properties are considered to be underwater when the combined balance of the loans on the property is at least 25 percent higher than estimated market value for the property.
That is an increase of 17,000 properties from a year ago, and represents 9.1 percent of all U.S. properties with a mortgage.
Want to know how your zip code fared? ATTOM provided the following maps for both underwater mortgages and home equity.
Source: ATTOM Data Solutions
