After a long, hot summer, the Texas weather is finally (hopefully) cooling down a bit. As the weather changes, typically so does the real estate market. The DFW market has cooled down a bit over the last few weeks, with mortgage interest rates rising to over 7% and home inventory levels still at an all-time high for the metroplex.

There are currently 50,000 properties available for sale in the MLS, which is our local listing service for North Texas. There is approx. a 5 month inventory supply, meaning that it would take 5 months  to sell all the currently listed homes at the current sales pace, assuming no new homes are added. It appears to be a fairly balanced market, with both sellers and buyers finding opportunities around the metroplex. There are currently advantages and disadvantages for both parties, so navigating the market with a qualified team who can creatively solve problems with constructive solutions is key.

One of the disadvantages in the current market is consistently rising mortgage interest rates. This can affect both buyers and sellers, with buyers having lower purchasing power and sellers stuck in homes that were purchased with lower interest rates. One advantage of higher rates is less competition with other home buyers, creating opportunities to negotiate with sellers and snag a deal.

Another advantage for home buyers are the large number of price reductions across the metroplex. In the last week, we've seen over 700 new homes hit the market for sale (in North Texas), but we've also seen almost 1,000 price reductions across the board, and sales prices are dropping just a bit.

According to Compass' Chief Economist, Mike Simonsen, here's where things stand nationally as of mid-September: 

• Inventory: 1.12 million homes on the market, up from 3% from last year
• New listings: Averaging 81,000 per week, just 2% more than last year, so no flood of sellers coming
• Home prices: Median pending sale price is $398,000, unchanged from last year
• Immediate sales: Under 12% of the market, the lowest share we've tracked, though 12,000 homes still sold this way this week

• Price reductions: Just over 42% of listings have cut their asking price, the most for any September except November 2022

In short, mortgage rates at this level test affordability, and we should expect price cuts to climb further in the coming weeks, the way we did in 2022. With that being said, the right home, in the right neighborhood, with the right price, is still moving in this market. The best properties are still there.

As always, please reach out to me if you have any questions regarding the real estate market. There are nuances at every turn, so make sure you have a great real estate team guiding you through the process, whether that be buying, selling, renting or investing. 

Median Sales Prices by County:

Collin – $460,000 (0%)

Parker – $453,778 (-5.5%)

Rockwall – $451,950 (+0.4%)

Denton - $439,950 (+1.1%)

Ellis – $435,000 (+8.8%)

Dallas – $365,000 (+0.3%)

Wise – $364,220 (+12.2%)

Tarrant – $340,000 (-2.9%)

Johnson – $330,000 (-2.0%)

Kaufman – $290,775 (-7.7%)

Hunt – $284,950 (+2.7%)