Hot Home Market

Dallas homes are flying off the market at this record-breaking pace

See a home you like? You'd better pounce.

Photo by Phillip Spears/Getty Images

The best time of the year to sell your home in Dallas is coming up quick, and buyers should be prepared to move extra fast this year. Zillow recently found that in 2017, homes all across the nation sold at their fastest pace on record: 81 days, and that includes the time to close the sale.

Texas' red-hot real estate market, however, is moving even quicker. In Dallas, homes stayed on the market an average of 55 days. During May and June, when homebuying here is at its peak, that number dropped to just 49 days.

It's nearly as fast and furious in Austin, where buyers have been scooping up homes in an average of 61 days (53 days in May). San Antonio's market is a little calmer at 73 days, but that's shortened to 66 days in June.

Only Houston is on par with the rest of the country, matching up exactly with the average 81 days. But during April and May, H-Town scorches the national "busy season" average of 73 days and has potential buyers scrambling to close the deal in only 65 days. Even Hurricane Harvey didn't have much of an impact on this — the average Houston timeframe in 2016 was 80 days.

Zillow attributes the overall crunch to tight inventory, as the number of homes for sale has fallen on a year-over-year basis for 37 consecutive months. Fewer options for buyers means higher prices, which led to nearly a quarter of all homes selling for over their list price in 2017.

In Dallas, though, inventory is up 15 percent over the last year, and 40 percent of homes sold for more than the asking price last year.

Closing can generally take four to six weeks, which means the typical home sits on the market for around 30 days before going under contract. The fastest selling market in 2017 was San Jose, California, where the typical home sold in 41 days. San Jose also experienced the biggest drop in inventory over the past year, with 26.8 percent fewer homes to choose from than a year earlier. Homes in San Jose sold fastest in October 2017, with a span of just 39 days from listing to closing.

Among major metro areas, New York took the most days to sell: 134. That shortened to 122 during July, its fastest month.

zillow trends reports

living single

Dallas lands among 10 most affordable U.S. metros for living alone

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In DFW, renters can afford to live solo.

Not everyone is cut out for living with roommates, but finding an affordable place to live alone can be tricky. Luckily, Dallas-Fort Worth sits among the top 10 most affordable U.S. metros for living by yourself, according to a new report.

Analysts at Apartments.com discovered North Texas renters spend the seventh lowest share of their monthly income on single-bedroom rent out of the 50 biggest metros in the U.S.

The study used a 30 percent "common budgeting guideline" to calculate the share of median renter household income spent on one-bedroom asking rents across the 50 largest U.S. metros, and determined renters can only afford to live alone in 24 of the 50 metros without crossing the 30 percent threshold.

The median annual income of a DFW renter household is $63,172, and the findings show the typical asking rent for a one-bedroom apartment comes out to $1,348 per month. The study determined single renters spend 25.6 percent of their monthly income on rent based on the budgeting suggestion.

Texas' favorable rental market also extends outside of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex: Austin surprised as the No. 1 most affordable metro for living alone, and San Antonio appeared among the top 10.

Austin renters spend the smallest share of their income on single-bedroom apartment rent, at 23.1 percent. That's based on a median renter household income of $70,008 and a $1,348 monthly one-bedroom asking rent price.

Dwindling rent prices and the prevalence of major tech employers are also attracting new renters, and the city has an 11.6 percent apartment vacancy rate.

"The average rent in Austin has decreased year over year, and construction of new housing increased by 30 percent over the past decade," the report's author wrote. "Tax incentives in Texas draw large tech corporations, like Google and Apple, to the Austin area, which has increased average wages, added more jobs to the local economy, and attracted renters in the process."

San Antonio ranked right above DFW in sixth place nationwide with solo renters spending 25.4 percent of their monthly income on single-bedroom rent, coincidentally the same share as single renters living in Raleigh, North Carolina and Salt Lake City, Utah.

This is the income and one-bedroom rent data in San Antonio:

$51,029 – median renter household income
$1,082 – one-bedroom monthly asking rent

A separate Apartments.com survey found 39 percent of U.S. adults would never feel comfortable living with a roommate, and 16 percent of renters would rather pay more in rent to live alone than consider living with a roommate.

"Factors contributing to lower rents may include recent high levels of construction, rising vacancy rates as renter demand catches up to supply, and fewer regulations, such as flexible zoning and lower development costs compared to other parts of the country," the report said. "Living alone has become a non-negotiable for many renters, and some renters are willing to make tradeoffs to afford this lifestyle."

The top 10 most affordable U.S. metros for living alone are:

No. 1 – Austin
No. 2 – Oklahoma City
No. 3 – Phoenix
No. 4 – Raleigh, North Carolina
No. 5 – Salt Lake City, Utah
No. 6 – San Antonio
No. 7 – Dallas-Fort Worth
No. 8 – Denver
No. 9 – Portland, Oregon
No. 10 – Columbus, Ohio

real estate rent rent prices apartments affordability reports