Dallas Morning News Reports; DFW area home sales slide by 25%

Dallas-Fort Worth sales of pre-owned homes drop 25%
11:29 PM CDT on Monday, April 7, 2008
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning Newsstevebrown@dallasnews.com
North Texas pre-owned home sales slid 25 percent in March from a year ago.
Last month's decline in home sales – one of the steepest so far – was enough to put the entire first quarter into a double-digit downturn, according to preliminary statistics released Monday by the North Texas Real Estate Information System.
During the first three months of 2008, pre-owned home sales in North Texas dropped by 18 percent from the same period last year, according to sales through the Realtors' multiple listing services.
Even so, median prices remained relatively unchanged – down only 1 percent during the quarter.
And the number of single-family houses on the market dropped 5 percent in March.
Real estate agents say business has increased in recent weeks, and they hope that the spring home sales season won't be a bust this year.
"Traffic has definitely picked up, and showings have picked up," said Jim Fite, president of Dallas-based Century 21 Judge Fite Co. "A lot of inventory is being bought up from the foreclosures, and that's a good thing."
At the end of March, about a 6.4-month supply of homes was listed for sale in the Dallas area.
Six months is widely considered a balanced market.
Much of the decline in home sales is being attributed to tougher lending standards that have locked some potential buyers out of the market.
Investors who had purchased thousands of houses are also on the sidelines.
The first-quarter drop in pre-owned single-family home sales – while significant – was less than the 30 percent-plus decline in new home sales in Dallas-Fort Worth during the same period.
Sales of condominiums and townhouses have fallen even further – down 40 percent in March from a year earlier, according to the latest Realtor numbers.
The outlook for the period ahead is clouded.
Pending house sales were down 30 percent last month from a year earlier.
The number of pending condo and townhouse sales was down 37 percent.
Economists don't expect a quick rebound in the local housing market.
"My best guess is no real market improvement until latter 2009," said Dr. James Gaines with Texas A&M University's Real Estate Center. "This year and next will be trying for everybody.
"2009 probably may show some slight improvement, but nothing to get real excited about," he said. "It'll take that long to work through the excess new home inventory plus sell off all the foreclosures, which won't slow down until later next year."