Dallas-area home prices are up almost 9 percent in the latest nationwide comparison. Only Seattle and Portland, Ore., had bigger year-over-year price gains in February, according to the latest Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index. The Dallas area annual home price increase was substantially higher than the nationwide rise of 5.8 percent. Home prices in both Dallas and nationally were at an all-time high in February.

Looking for a bargain on housing? Dallas isn’t the place anymore

“Housing and home prices continue to advance,” S&P’s David Blitzer said in the report. “Housing’s strength and home building are important contributors to the economic recovery.

“Housing starts bottomed in March 2009 and, with a few bumps, have advanced over the last eight years.” Dallas-area home prices are now at record levels. Dallas prices are more than a third higher than they were at the peak of the last housing market in 2007, according to Case-Shiller. Nationwide prices are now about 1 percent ahead of where they were before the recession.

With tight inventories of homes on the market, North Texas home prices are continuing to rise at unprecedented rates.
One reason for Dallas’ soaring home prices and labor shortage: Immigrants aren’t coming to work.

“The 2017 spring home shopping season has started off with a bang, and at this point the strength of the market shouldn’t come as much of a surprise,” Zillow chief economist Dr. Svenja Gudell said in response to the latest home price survey. “February Case-Shiller numbers point to more fierce competition in the housing market.

“The thing to watch for now is when market conditions will shift, and change does seem to loom on the horizon, with rising mortgage interest rates and flattening rents,” she said. “Both could put a dent in home-buyer demand and overall price growth and affordability.”

Source: The Dallas Morning News – https://www.dallasnews.com/business/real-estate/2017/04/25/dallashome-prices-almost-9-percent-latest-case-shiller-report