Dallas Home Price Stability Among Best

Dallas Business Journal

Dallas home prices may be down 4.5 percent when comparing D-FW’s February home prices to the same period last year, but Dallas is still faring better than the rest of the nation, according to Standard & Poor’s latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices.

S&P’s latest report also indicates Dallas home prices in February dropped 0.3 percent from the previous month.

The S&P report says in considering all of the data, Dallas has suffered the least in the nation, with the area’s home prices down only 11.1 percent from peak prices that were reached in June of 2007. Dallas’ price drops are relatively minor when compared to cities like Phoenix, which saw home prices drop 50.8 percent from their June 2006 peak.

When comparing year-over-year declines in February, the report says Dallas, Denver and Boston fared the best with their prices declining 4.5 percent, 5.7 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively.

Metropolitan areas in the Sunbelt are feeling the most heat in terms of rapidly declining home prices. Among those hurting the most are the cities of Phoenix, Las Vegas and San Francisco — all of which saw their home prices drop more than 30 percent when comparing February numbers to the same period last year.

Standard & Poor’s did report some positive news about the declines. The report concluded, “While the declines in residential real estate continued into February, we witnessed some deceleration in the rate of decline in some of the markets,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s. “All 20 metro areas recorded a monthly decline in February, but 16 of the 20 metro areas saw an improvement in their monthly returns compared to January.”

Dallas, TX Foreclosure List Report.

Dallas area foreclosures and the percentage of foreclosures in specific areas. For help locating and buying a dallas foreclosure, contact Corman Real Estate.

FOR SALE/FORECLOSURES/%

Addison, TX Homes 615 / 24 / 3.9%

Allen, TX Homes 418 / 23 / 5.5%

Anna, TX Homes 114 / 14 / 12.3%

Carrolton, TX Homes and
Farmers Branch, TX Homes 528 /47 / 8.9%

Coppell, TX Homes 135 / 3 / 2.2%

North Dallas, TX Homes 693 / 20 / 2.9%

Dallas White Rock Homes 1,233 / 117 / 9.5%

Farmersville, TX Homes 39 / 6 / 15.4%

Frisco, TX Homes 1,248 / 137 / 11.0%

Garland, TX Homes 842 / 99 / 11.8%

Irving, TX Homes 718 / 47 / 6.5%

McKinney, TX Homes 883 / 64 / 7.2%

Mesquite, TX Homes 724 / 116 / 16.0%

Park Cities, TX Homes 666 / 14 / 2.1%

Plano, TX Homes 1,104 / 58 / 5.3%

Richardson, TX Homes 308 / 26 / 8.4%

Rockwall, TX Homes 778 / 72 / 9.3%

Rowlett, TX Homes and
Sachse, TX Homes 335 / 38 / 11.3%

The Colony, TX Homes 178 / 15 / 8.4%

Wylie, TX Homes 336 / 30 / 8.9%

Mortgage Rates Hit Lowest Level On Record.

By Brian Louis

April 2 (Bloomberg) -- Fixed mortgage rates in the U.S. fell to a record low for the second consecutive week, signaling that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s effort to spur the housing market is gaining traction.

The 30-year rate dropped to 4.78 percent from 4.85 percent a week earlier, the lowest since records began in 1971, Freddie Mac said today in a statement.

Rates are falling to historic lows as the Federal Reserve ramps up purchases of mortgage-backed bonds to support home lending. Mortgage applications in the U.S. rose for a fourth consecutive week as a decline in borrowing costs prompted more refinancing.

“Lower rates will help increase demand for homes,” said Celia Chen, senior director at Moody’s Economy.com in West Chester, Pennsylvania. “We need to see stronger demand for homes to help end the housing correction.”

The Fed’s efforts to expand lending “should make new consumer, business, and mortgage loans more available, at lower cost,” Bernanke said in a March 20 speech to a Phoenix banking conference.

Bernanke’s Comments

Government purchases of mortgage securities are helping to reduce the interest rates that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buyers require on home loans “thereby lowering the rate at which lenders, including community banks, can fund new mortgages,” Bernanke said.

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate may bottom at 4.4 percent, said Scott Anderson, senior economist at Wells Fargo & Co. in Minneapolis.

“We’re not going to see mortgage rates a lot lower than they are today,” Anderson said. “It’s going to be a lot harder to push rates lower from here.”

The average rate on a 15-year fixed mortgage also hit a record low of 4.52 percent, down from 4.58 percent, McLean, Virginia-based Freddie Mac said today.

Falling mortgage rates and lower prices have lifted demand for U.S. homes. The number of Americans signing contracts to buy previously owned homes rose 2.1 percent in February, the National Association of Realtors said yesterday. The index of signed purchase agreements, or pending home resales, rose to 82.1 from 80.4 in January.