Collin County Real Estate Market Skyrockets!

Per CCAR.net - April 19, 2010

The Collin County Association of Realtors reports that new home listings in March in Collin County and surrounding areas jumped to their highest level in two-and-a-half years. In addition, last month proved to be the best month of March the area has seen since 2005.

"These dramatic improvements in the local real estate market indicators are really exciting, especially when we are still hearing horror stories about real estate activity from other parts of the country," says Steve Haid, CCAR member services director.

The CCAR Pulse, which delves into the real estate markets of 36 local communities, also reports that listings under contract are at their highest level since July 2008. Furthermore, closed sales are up 23.3 percent over one year ago, and the time it takes to sell a home decreased 13 percent from last March. Median sales price is up 4.5 percent over a year ago to $175,000.

Even though sellers are enjoying improvements in the market, it is still a great time to buy a home. Mortgage rates continue to be very low, and homes in this area are very affordable. The Housing Affordability Index was 152 in March. That means that the median family income is 152 percent of the income necessary to qualify to purchase the median priced home.

"Although foreclosure remains an important issue for homeowners, our first quarter 2010 foreclosure report shows that there are only 940 foreclosures available for sale in the Multiple Listing Service database. This is the first time that number has been below 1,000 since the second quarter of 2006," notes Haid.

There continues to be a high demand for foreclosure properties, and buyers are rapidly absorbing the available foreclosure homes on the market. In the first quarter, only 10.6 percent of new listings in the Multiple Listing Service were foreclosure properties, while 23.3 percent of sales were from foreclosures.

Overall, the local real estate market is experiencing healthy growth with marked improvements in new listings, listings under contract, and closed sales. At the same time, foreclosures are having a reduced impact on the overall market. These improvements began locally about six months ago.

"We are very happy for buyers and sellers, who had delayed their moves until things got better. Many have now realized their dream," says Haid. "We look forward to more excitement in the real estate market as we come into the peak season of late spring and early summer."