Inman

Dallas real estate endures slower December

More real estate cooling hit the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area in December, as single-family home sales and prices continued to fall from their 2005 levels, according to preliminary statistics provided by North Texas Real Estate Information Systems.

There were 6,333 single-family home sales last month, down 5 percent from approximately 6,665 sales a year earlier. December’s decline marked the seventh straight month that sales have fallen behind their 2005 levels.

The area’s median home price last month of $146,400 was 2 percent below the median reported a year ago.

Although some 9,062 new single-family listings came on the market in December — up 7 percent from the same month in 2005 — the figure was down from 10,384 new listings in November and 13,258 in October, which may suggest that more property owners are deciding to postpone their selling plans until after winter.

Inventory was still running 9 percent higher than a year ago at 41,598 active single-family listings despite a sizeable drop from 44,125 in November.

Sales of condos and townhomes tumbled in December, as Realtors recorded just 381 transactions, down 24 percent from the same month in 2005, according to statistics. The median condo price, however, continued to rise, growing 13 percent from a year ago to $130,130.

Single-family homes that sold in December sat on the market 4 percent longer than they did a year ago at an average 76 days, while condos and townhomes spent 10 percent less time on the market, also at 76 days.

NTREIS serves more than 23,000 MLS subscribers of 16 shareholder Realtor associations in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, covering 4,000 real estate offices.