Home price gains near national levels

 

 

 

D-FW area figures rose 3.2% in second quarter; U.S. increases have fallen from double digits

 

12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, August 16, 2006

 

By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News

 

After years of lagging behind nationwide appreciation, Dallas-Fort Worth home prices are now increasing at close to the country's average.

EXISTING HOME PRICE CHANGES Median home prices for the second quarter of 2006 and the percentage change from the same quarter 2005. City Median price Change Biggest increases Baton Rouge, La. $172,300 27.3% Ocala, Fla. $169,500 25.3% Virginia Beach- Norfolk, Va. $237,300 23.6% U.S. median $227,500 3.7% Biggest declines Danville, Ill. $65,200 -11.2% Detroit $155,700 -8.0% Rockford, Ill. $115,900 -5.5% Texas cities Amarillo $118,600 10.4% Austin $176,700 5.9% Beaumont- Port Arthur $114,200 18.3% Corpus Christi $138,500 12.6% Dallas-Fort Worth $153,900 3.2% El Paso $126,700 16.3% Houston $152,700 7.2% SOURCE: National Association of Realtors, Washington, D.C.

But that's not because local home prices have soared.

Median U.S. home sales prices rose by only 3.7 percent in the second quarter - down from years of double-digit inflation.

In the D-FW area, home prices rose by 3.2 percent in the most recent quarter compared with a year ago, the National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday.

That's down from the almost 5 percent rise in the first quarter, according to the Realtors' benchmark survey.

The slowdown in national home price growth is a good thing, said Realtors economist David Lereah.

"After a full year of double-digit gains in the national median price, the timing is right for a cooling in the rate of growth - we are presently experiencing a soft landing in the housing sector," Mr. Lereah said in a statement.

Home prices actually fell in more than two dozen of the 60 markets that the Realtors track for their quarterly survey.

The biggest drops were in Midwestern cities, including Danville, Ill., where prices dropped by more than 11 percent.

But not all areas of the country are in a home price freeze.

In Baton Rouge, La., which is still feeling the impact of New Orleans evacuees, median home prices were up by 27.3 percent.

And several Texas cities - including Beaumont, Corpus Christi, El Paso and Amarillo - had double-digit gains.

The D-FW area had the smallest price increase among the Texas cities in the survey.

More than two dozen states saw declines in pre-owned home sales in the second quarter, the Realtors said Tuesday.

But Texas had one of the biggest sales gains in the country - up 11.3 percent and behind only Alaska and Arkansas in higher home purchase numbers.

E-mail stevebrown@dallasnews.com

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