Dallas Dirt
Flash sale craze hits Dallas real estate market but homes remain most affordable in nation
See a "For Sale" sign in front of the house of your dreams? You'd better act fast. A new report says that Dallas has one of the fastest housing markets in the United States.
The data comes from Seattle-based real estate firm Redfin, which has coined the term "real estate flash sales" for homes that go under contact within only hours of listing. Dallas ranks No. 4 on the nationwide list, counting 184 flash sales within the past five months.
Houston and Austin also made the cut, at Nos. 3 and 5, with 188 and 163 flash sales, respectively, during the five-month time period. Phoenix easily topped the list, with 560 flash sales from October 1 to February 26.
Although a selection of Dallas homes is going quickly, it doesn't necessarily mean that prices are going up. In fact, another recent study found Dallas' housing prices are remarkably affordable.
ZipRealty, an online real estate broker, compared median home sale prices to median household income to determine that Texas metro areas are the best places to find a real estate bargain. Dallas-Fort Worth ranks No. 1 on its list of the Most Affordable Housing Markets of 2013, followed by Houston at No. 2 and Austin at No. 7.
In DFW, where the median household income is $47,418 and the median home price is $249,950, the ratio is 5.27; in Houston, it's 5.43 (considering a $44,761 median income and a $243,000 median home price). Austin's median household income is $48,950, and a median home price is $300,000, yielding a 6.13 ratio.