The State of Real Estate

Dallas single-family home prices continue to outpace rest of nation

Good news for Dallas homeowners: Year-over-year single-family home prices are still on the rise, enough to keep us among the top 10 markets in the country. Bad news for Dallas homebuyers: Prices are up, and inventory is down — and it looks like it may be that way for a while.

CoreLogic, a residential property information, analytics and services provider, has released its March 2014 report, which shows that single-family home prices in the Dallas-Plano-Irving metropolitan area were up 11 percent over the same period last year. On a month-over-month basis, home prices increased by 2 percent in March 2014 compared to February 2014.

The Dallas statistic is nearly identical to the 11.1 percent year-over-year home price increase seen nationally in March 2014.

The Dallas statistic is nearly identical to the 11.1 percent year-over-year increase seen nationally during that same time. This marks the 25th consecutive month of year-over-year nationwide home price gains.

However, these numbers are down slightly from those reported in February 2014, when there was an 11.3 percent bump in Dallas home prices and a 12.2 increase across the country. But the March numbers were still good enough to put Dallas in the No. 7 spot nationally.

CoreLogic researchers were slightly concerned by March’s numbers and attribute the increase in home prices to an imbalance in supply and demand.

“March data on new and existing home sales was weaker than expected and is a cause for concern as we enter the spring buying season,” said Dr. Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Interest rate-disenfranchised potential sellers are adding to the existing shadow inventory, while buyers who can’t find what they want to buy are on the sidelines creating a new kind of ‘shadow demand.’

“This supply and demand imbalance continues to drive home prices higher, even though transaction volumes are lower than expected.”

Added Anand Nallathambi, CoreLogic president and CEO: “In many markets — especially major metro areas like Los Angeles, Atlanta and New York — home prices are being driven up at double-digit rates fueled by a lack of inventory and record levels of cash purchases.”

Back in Texas, CoreLogic reports a 10.3 percent year-over-year increase in the home price index (HPI) across the state. The Houston metro area saw gains of 13.7 percent — enough for a No. 4 ranking nationally.

To determine the HPI, CoreLogic looks at price, time between sales, property type, loan type and distressed sales. The CoreLogic HPI is a repeat-sales index that tracks increases and decreases in sales prices for the same single-family homes over time, which provides a more accurate “constant quality” view of pricing trends, as opposed to views of pricing trends based on analysis of all home sales.

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GP News

Grand Prairie expands to the south with new master-planned community

Rendering courtesy of Provident

Goodland Grand Prairie

The City of Grand Prairie is growing fast and expanding to make way for a new master-planned development south of US Highway 287 and along Tollway 360, in Ellis and Johnson counties.

The community development, called Goodland, is the result of Grand Prairie’s recent 1,500-acre annexation extending its southern border toward Mansfield. Overall, with the added land, Goodland will be a 5,000-acre site featuring 15,000 residences including townhomes, custom homes, and gated communities for 50,000 residents.

According to a release, it will be a “city within a city” and a 45-minute drive from Dallas-Fort Worth. Beyond housing, there will be shops, restaurants, schools, public and private event venues, regional sports fields and complexes, dance halls, churches, trail systems, city parks, ponds, and preserved green spaces.

“This is a significant step in our city’s development,” says Grand Prairie Mayor Ron Jensen in a statement. “Unlike many of our neighboring cities, we have the unique advantage of new development opportunities to our south that will drive the growth and prosperity of our city. We recognized the opportunity and took decisive action.”

Leading the development is Provident, a Dallas-based real estate firm that has created other master-planned communities across Dallas-Fort Worth, such as Preston Hollow Village and Hillstead in Collin County. Provident has plans to work nature into the space design with more than 1,600 acres of creek corridors and floodplain land.

Plans are ongoing for a centralized mixed-use walkable Town Center, complete with civic buildings and other commercial development. Further south on the property near Highway 67, light industrial uses and other private employment campuses are already underway, projects that will contribute vital tax dollars for city growth and future expansions.

“This level of placemaking is quite rare, and certainly not easy to execute, especially in a brand-new community," says Provident Managing Director Rylan Yowell in a statement. "We are committed to a long-term vision with a desire to be good stewards of the land."

A new four-lane road called Goodland Parkway will link Goodland to Grand Prairie at Tollway 360 and US Highway 287. It's set to open by December 2025.

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