Dallas-Fort Worth Home Sales Jump 18%!

03:05 PM CDT on Monday, June 7, 2010
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News

North Texas home sales jumped by 18 percent in May – the third month in a row of double-digit annual gains.

Local real estate agents sold 7,119 pre-owned, single-family homes last month, the highest monthly total so far this year.

Through the first five months of 2010, sales of homes through Realtors’ multiple listing services are up 12 percent from the same period of last year, the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University and the North Texas Real Estate Information Systems said Monday.

May home sales received a boost from the recently expired federal tax credit which provided up to $8,000 to homebuyers who had a house under contract by the end of April. Now that the tax credit has expired, most analysts anticipate a slowdown in residential sales. Indeed, pending home sales are down 23 percent in North Texas, indicating a slower sales pace ahead.

Median pre-owned home sales prices last month were up 2 percent from a year earlier at $151,980. The number of homes on the market last month was down 2 percent from a year earlier, according to the latest MLS reports.

In May there was a 6.6-month supply of pre-owned, single-family homes listed for sale in North Texas. A six-month inventory is considered a balanced market.