Home sales in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area picked up in November as declining mortgage rates continued to lure homebuyers back to the market.
DFW home sales were down only 3.1% year over year in November compared to the 33.1% year-over-year decline logged during the same month in 2022, marking the smallest drop in annual home sales this year, according to the latest RE/MAX National Housing Report.
The relative upswing in November home sales is an encouraging sign for the DFW housing market, according to Michael Coburn, broker and owner of RE/MAX Town and Country in Allen.
“The market has turned a corner over the last couple of weeks,” Coburn told The Dallas Express in an email. “We’ve started to see more interest from buyers after the slight drop in rates. Sellers, however, are still reluctant to give up their current interest rate.”
Although daily mortgage rates have fallen from their two-decade high of 8% in October, Coburn said that “many buyers continue to question whether now is the best time to buy or if they should wait until spring when rates are expected to drop further.”
Waiting till the spring is probably not the best idea, according to Coburn. Instead, he said that it “makes more sense to buy now at a cheaper price and refinance the home when rates drop.”
“Buyers will save themselves a lot of money in the long term,” he said.
For instance, Coburn said that if a buyer places an offer to buy a home for $500,000 and it is accepted at the list price, the buyer will not be overpaying.
“When rates do drop, everyone will rush into the market wanting to buy. This will drive up prices and competition, and we will see a return of bidding wars. That same $500,000 house will likely cost closer to $520,000 in the spring. The bottom line is buyers will pay more for a house if they wait until spring,” he explained.
While the number of new listings was down 4.3% year over year in DFW, the report notes that the supply of housing inventory was up 9.2% on the year. Overall, DFW home prices remained flat month over month in November. The current median home sale price in Dallas-Fort Worth is currently $390,000, according to RE/MAX.
