Foreclosure starts are up locally, Dallas-Ft. Worth market continues to significantly outperform all other cities in the state when it comes to home sales, and several local cities and towns are among the top places in Texas to live.
We take a look at all of that and more in this week’s roundup of real estate news.
FORECLOSURE STARTS UP IN DALLAS-FORT WORTH
While foreclosure starts dropped nationwide last month, they were up 46 percent in the Dallas-Fort Worth market and 153 percent from a year ago in Houston, according to a new ATTOM Data Solutions analysis of foreclosure data.
Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia posted year-over-year increases in foreclosures in May, including Texas at 53 percent, the property data company said. A total of 71,949 properties had foreclosure filings in May nationwide, up 12 percent from April but down 12 percent from a year ago.
That’s a rate of one in every 1,863 U.S. housing units with a foreclosure filing.
Lenders repossessed more than 21,000 properties in May, a 50 percent increase from April but down 21 percent from a year ago.
DALLAS-FORT WORTH POSTS HIGHEST HOME SALES NUMBERS IN STATE
While all four metro markets in Texas posted higher new home sales numbers last month, Dallas-Fort Worth’s new home sales were the highest, the HomesUSA.com New Homes Sales Index released last week revealed.
Statewide, new home sales slowed from 123.78 days on market in April to 126.02 days in May.
“However, the total sales of new homes statewide, and in all four markets, were higher for the twelfth straight month in May, despite the fact it took a little longer to sell the average new home,” HomesUSA’s analysis said.
New home prices in Dallas-Fort Worth went up last month, analysts said, with the average price increasing from $357,340 in April to $358,679 in May. DOM for new home sales went from 114.53 days in April to 114.32 days in May. The region’s new home sales in April were 1,338 in April, and increased to 1,345 in May.
LOCAL CITIES, TOWNS TOP LIST OF BEST PLACES TO LIVE IN TEXAS
While unemployment is only slightly higher than the national rate, Texas is still attracting families who are moving to the state as their jobs transfer here, or just for a taste of the cheaper real estate that might put home ownership in their grasps quicker than their home states.
But what about the other things that drive people to Texas — things like homes, schools, and quality of life amenities?
Wallethub recently released its list of the best places to live in Texas. Their analysis compaired 117 large cities in Texas against 21 different benchmarks that included number of playgrounds, crime, and even the divorce rate.
Incredibly, North Texas occupies the top 11 places — starting with Frisco at number one. All told, about 37 cities in North Texas make up the 117-city list.
In specific benchmarks, though, give cities that might have an overall ranking a chance to shine. Dallas and Fort Worth are in the top five cities with the most attractions, for instance.
BUYING A HOME IS MORE EXPENSIVE THAN IT HAS BEEN IN A DECADE
As mortgage rates go up, mortgage payments taking a bigger share of income, new research by Zillow revealed.
In nine of the 35 biggest metro markets, mortgage payments have become historically higher than 10 years ago. In fact, in San Jose, California, a typical home requires more than half of the median income.
In the U.S. the median U.S. home is worth 54 times more than the typical household income.
The share of income needed to make a monthly mortgage payment on the median home increased to 17.1 percent in the first quarter of 2018, up 1.2 percent from the previous quarter. In Dallas, it was 16.5 percent. Renters in Dallas are paying a higher percentage of their income than homeowners are, though.
HOME FLIPPING RATE UP IN DALLAS-FORT WORTH
Home Flipping is as popular as ever in North Texas, but that’s not necessarily the case nationwide, a new ATTOM Data Solutions report on home flipping in the first quarter of 2018 revealed.
Nationally, almost 48,500 single family homes and condos were flipped in the first quarter of 2018, which is down 4 percent from 2017 Q4 and down 3 percent year-over-year. Those flips represented about 7 percent of all home sales during the quarter, which is up about two percent from the previous year.
Average national profit was $69,500 in Q1 2018, about a 48 percent return on investment compared to the original acquisition price. That figure is lower than the 48.9 percent average in Q4 2017. It took an average of 183 days to finish a flip, about four days longer than last quarter.
But locally, the story is a bit different. Among the 1,429 zip codes nationally with at least 10 home flips in 2018’s first quarter, Fort Worth’s 76119 was one of five where the average flip was less than 100 days — at 93 days.
And Dallas-Fort Worth was among markets with at least 1,000 flips in 1Q with a year-over-year increase in their home flipping rate, where the rate increased by two percent.
