DFW's September Market is still strong. Like really strong.
There’s a certain factor that many real estate agents aren’t preparing their sellers for.
Interest rates.
Yeah - we all know they’re higher and a hard pill to swallow but it’s not just that. Depending on your home and the specific market you are in, you’re going up against New Construction.
And many buyers are taking this route due to those interest rates. Builders are offering insane incentives with upwards of $20,000 in closing costs to help buy down interest rates to a very enticing 4.99% and keeping a lot of money in their pockets.
When you sell your home, you are most likely moving into another. Maybe you’re renting or getting off the grid for a bit, but if you’re buying your next home, I can imagine you don’t want to trade your 3-4% rate for a higher one either.
Being prepared to offer closing costs to buyers is vital, but off-setting by overpricing your home isn’t the best strategy.
What I’ve found over and over again is that many sellers are choosing to hire the agents that offer the least amount of commission and the highest list price to help net the highest amount possible.
The problem is, their home doesn’t sell and it sits because that agent didn’t care enough to actually do a fantastic job and what it takes to get the home sold. Oftentimes they won’t even invest the money to pay for professional photos, which has proven its value with this one stat – Homes with professional photography sell 46% higher on average than those without.
Save a couple thousand dollars to sell for tens of thousands less is not aligned with your financial goals. An agent that cares about you wants to sell your home and help you move forward by netting what you need.
Now, some neighborhoods don’t directly compete with new construction. You can’t buy a brand new home with beautiful established 40 year old trees, or a historic bungalow with age and character.
Some locations don’t work for buyers that need to be close to schools, jobs, family or cannot afford what new construction is selling for nearby.
But it is a factor and it should be considered. Especially by the agent you hire!
Digging into our market update, here’s what we are seeing in DFW.
A strong market, stronger than the majority of the US housing market. We are making our way into a slower market as we creep towards the holidays, but there are still plenty of buyers out there.
Average Sales Price:
September 2023 - $517,942
September 2022 - $498,535
August 2023 - $535,934
Nitty Gritty: Average sales price decreased from August 2023, but still higher than September 2022. It seems prices for this year’s cycle peaked in June at $542k and we are still trending downward.
Average Days on Market (current):
September 2023 - 53
September 2022 - 32
August 2023 - 51
Nitty Gritty: Not a ton of movement from August to September, however the number of new listings was much lower as well. This will make sense in the next two stats. My guess is this will jump a tad more than one day in October.
Number of New Listings:
September 2023 - 7,434
September 2022 - 8,133
August 2023 - 8,487
Number of Sales:
September 2023 - 5,314
September 2022 - 6,251
August 2023 - 6,403
We had 1,053 less listings come on the market in September than August. We had 1,089 fewer sales in September.
Though the number of sales has decreased, so has the number of new listings, with a difference of 36.
The number of active listings in August was 15,564.
The number of active listings in September was 15,782.
So yeah, still not a huge jump.
As always - now may not be the right time for you but I will die on this hill screaming how important having the real numbers and knowledge of what is happening in our specific market.
Reminder - these stats reflect Tarrant, Collin, Dallas and Denton County, specifically Residential SFH. If you would like a neighborhood-specific update, respond and let me know and I will share it with you.