The housing price slump that has engulfed the rest of the country, and that we first saw here in 2008, accelerated through the first five months of this year.
That’s the biggest news in the fourth Advocate Home Price Snapshot, compiled with the help of Ron Burch at Coldwell Banker. Home prices in East Dallas and Lakewood, which remained relatively stable (and in some cases, even increased) through 2007, started to slide in 2008 and got worse in the first five months of this year.
Single-family home sale prices fell through May 31 in all of five of the ZIP codes where we deliver magazines in East Dallas and Lakewood. Four areas declined in 2008, and just one ZIP code fell in January 2007.
Meanwhile, the average sale price declined in 17 of the 23 ZIP codes where we publish magazines. That compares to 14 declines in the 2008 numbers. (We used sales figures through May 31 reported to the North Texas Real Estate Information System).
There were some significant declines in this neighborhood — 26 percent in 75204, 6.2 percent in 75206, and 5.7 percent in 75214. These aren’t Phoenix-style drops, where home prices have fallen in half since the market peaked in the middle of the decade. But the declines are the worst since 2003. The good news, though, is that save for 75204 and 75223, home prices haven’t much fallen past 2005 levels.
The peripheral numbers — days on market, homes for sale, homes sold and the like — were mostly down, too, and especially homes sold. They look to finish 2009 well below 2008 levels, if present trends hold. Only five homes were sold in 75204 through the end of May, compared to 35 last year, and only 19 in 75223, compared to 80 in 2008. Interestingly, the number of homes for sale and the time it took to sell them remained more or less consistent with last year’s figures. This likely means that there is still a market if homes are priced to the market. This puts us ahead of much of the rest of the country, where even bargain basement prices haven’t revived sales.
Elsewhere in the neighborhoods where we do magazines:
• Lake Highlands was a bright spot, with sales prices increasing in two of the three ZIP codes for the second consecutive period. The hike wasn’t much in either case, but it looks like the area may have hit bottom and be working its way back up.
• Preston Hollow, which held its own in 2008 with increases in three of five ZIP codes, finally looks to be slumping. Prices declined in three areas, and each by 11 percent or more. In 75225, the average sale price dropped 17.9 percent to $1.1 million, about the 2006 average.
• Far North Dallas also was hit hard, with prices declining in five of the six areas. In 75254, between Spring Valley and Beltline, prices dropped 20.4 percent to an average $477,472.
• Oak Cliff suffered in the first part of the year, with prices falling in all four ZIP codes we cover between 8 and 10 percent. Average home sale prices in Oak Cliff have almost all retreated to 2003 levels.
