Housing Market - Outside Factors currently affecting us

I like to have fun with this blog, but I also like to bring you information vital to our local housing market. While there are many factors that sellers and their agents can control when selling a property - price, condition, marketing, staging, advertising - there are some factors that we have no control over. Primarily the economy and the 'competition' (how many other sellers there are and what they are doing).

Recent housing data provided some signs of hope that the housing market may be stabilizing. We've seen positive changes in the new construction homes market like declining inventory levels and improved pricing levels. Existing home affordability declined slightly in March due to the median increase in existing home prices.

Equities were volatile during the past week as the market tried to absorb soaring crude prices and inflation concerns, but relatively positive economic data. The revised GDP indicated that the economy grew at a slightly faster pace than forecasts had indicated. Continued weak growth is widely expected going into the second quarter. Continued high fuel prices will continue to hurt consumer discretionary spending and could trigger concerns of inflation going forward. Consumer confidence continues to decline in both the present situation and monthly expectations index.

At the current sales pace, there are 7.6 months of existing homes supply on the market in North Dallas (south of LBJ and north of NW Hwy). That means it would take 7.6 months to sell all of the homes currently on the market, based on the rate of sales over the past year. Supply levels between 5 and 10 months are considered healthy in this area. The number of new construction homes for sale has continued to decline as builders are still holding off on new starts.

Nationally, average mortgage rates increased to 6.08% in the latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey. This is the highest rates have been since mid-March. This shows a 0.06 % increase from the previous week but a 17.40 % drop from the same period last year. If fuel price concerns continue to increase, it is possible the Fed may raise rates before the end of the year.

The timing is very good in North Dallas for housing. [where: 75230]