2007 Was 2nd Best Year EVER For Real Estate Sales

I just got this confirmation from Sue Meyer, President of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage - Dallas/Ft. Worth.

Yes, housing on a national basis is going through an adjustment, but just remember – Real Estate is Local, and locally, 2007 was our market’s SECOND BEST YEAR ever. The North Texas MLS finished the year around $17.4 billion in sales, slightly south of our best year in 2006 when NTREIS reported $18.2 billion in sales in our area.

You heard it here first.

Steve Brown Needs to Consult RECTAMU & NTREIS

Ok, the graphic is pretty harsh but Steve Brown just doesn't get it.

North Texas home sales plunged in December. The number of preowned homes sold fell by a quarter last month compared with December 2006, according to preliminary numbers released Monday. The median price of homes sold in the area also declined. "I would have expected sales to be off, but not by 25 percent," said David Brown, a housing analyst with Metrostudy Inc. "Wow! That's a big decline." Real estate agents sold 5,257 single-family homes last month, according to statistics from the North Texas Real Estate Information Systems and Texas A&M University. The drop in sales from last December is one of the largest recent declines on record. The number of pending sales was also down 21 percent. The median price of homes sold last month also fell 2 percent from a year ago to $143,190.

This article was written a few days ago and when reading it it's easy to think the sky is falling. I also cring to think that this is what is being told to the general public. But then that's what you get with Steve Brown. Stats without perspective and all doom and gloom. I'm wondering if he just can't decipher stats or if he's just too lazy to do so. With all that being said, I would like to direct him to some real statistics that have been compiled by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University using our MLS statistics from the North Texas Real Estate Information Systems. Two entities that cannot be disputed. While December's number have not been officially released these numbers show that as of November, average North Texas single family sales prices have appreciated by 5%. Condos and townhomes by 11%. Feel free to peruse through the statistics if you want. These are real and for public use via MetroTex Association of Realtor's website. How Steve Brown uses them in his scare tactic newpaper articles is ridiculous and and juvenile. Seriously, what is hoping to achieve by writing this crap?

No. I Didn't Forget About Uptown, Oaklawn or Downtown

You can see the stats here. (I love Google Docs.) I chose to only look at Condo and Townhome stats since single family detached homes are so rare. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the 9% rise in median sales price seeing the large inventory of condos currently on the market. But as I said recently in this post, I truly feel we could be at a tipping point if sellers don't start getting realistic about their sales prices. Oh, and builders need to chill out a little bit too.

Drum Roll Please...2007 Year End Statistics

After all of the doom's day talk regarding Dallas real estate in 2007 I am here to say we did pretty darn well. Below are 5 different areas in my local market. I looked at median sales price and days on market (DOM) instead of averages due to large sales and DOM that can influence average numbers year-over-year. I did use average price per square foot because that is a number consumers and Realtors both love to pay too much attention to. And I knew if I left it out all 5(?) of my readers would ask me to include it. You will also see the number of units sold as well.

Click here to check them out.

As the numbers show, median sales prices increased by at least 10% in all areas except NW Dallas. NW Dallas is HOT right now so I expect that to change in 2008. Midway Hollow anyone? Number of homes sold was down in all areas but not by alarming rates. Days on market increased in Preston Hollow (wanna know why?) and Park Cities the most and went down in NW Dallas and Lake Highlands.

All of these areas increased in median sales price by a combined 8% from 2006 to 2007. Not too bad.