Family Matters Real Estate

By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
stevebrown@dallasnews.com
North Texas home sales surged by 27 percent in April from a year earlier.
The jump in pre-owned home sales was fueled by federal home buying tax credits.
The increase – along with an 11 percent rise in March – was enough to put home sales ahead 9 percent so far this year in North Texas.
Local real estate agents sold 7,017 pre-owned single-family homes last month, according to statistics released Friday by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University and the North Texas Real Estate Information Systems.
It was the highest one-month sales total since last July and the second highest since mid-2008.
Median home sales prices also rose a solid 7 percent – one of the best recent year-over-year gains. Through the first four months of 2010, median home resale prices are up 5 percent in the area from the same period of last year.
April’s substantial increase in pre-owned home sales isn’t likely to fade right away.
The number of pending home sales in North Texas – properties under contract but not yet closed – is up 40 percent.
As sales are rising, the number of houses on the market in the area has fallen about 7 percent from a year ago to just over 37,000 homes. It’s the lowest April home sales inventory in more than two years.
Currently there is just over a six-month supply of preowned homes for sale in North Texas. That’s considered a balanced market.

D-FW AREA HOME RESALES UPDATE