real estate report

Texas new home sales slowed in September, prices on the rise in Dallas

3315 Gibsondell, Dallas Oak Cliff home for sale

Average new home prices across Dallas-Fort Worth increased in September.

Photo courtesy of Realtor.com

A new analysis of the statewide real estate market has revealed new home sales in Texas have slowed since September, despite a drop in average prices, and inventory is on the rise.

The September edition of the New Home Sales Report by Dallas-based platform HomesUSA.com examined MLS data across Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio to determine the status of the overall real estate market.

The report found that the three-month average number of new home sales fell across all four major metros in September. Dallas experienced a decline by 14 homes for sale.

“The September three-month moving average of new home sales in Dallas-Ft. Worth was 1,848 versus 1,862 in August,” the report said.

San Antonio saw the most dramatic decline in sales with 1,067 new homes sold in September, versus 1,100 in August. Houston’s total new home sales fell by 27 units to 1,943 in September. Austin saw the smallest decline, down just seven sales from August to 864 in September.

Home prices increased in DFW
Three-month average prices for new homes across Texas have fallen from $432,749 in August to $429,898 in September, the report found. In a year-over-year comparison from September 2023, new home prices have plummeted almost $29,000.

But that was not the case in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Here’s how home prices changed across all four major metros from August to September:

Dallas-Fort Worth: Increased from $489,762 to $492,129
Austin: Decreased from $494,920 to $483,408
San Antonio: Decreased from $340,755 to $338,620
Houston: Decreased from $402,741 to $397,318

How long on the market
The trends also show the three-month average Days on Market (DOM) – also known as the average time homes sit on the market before being sold – across all four real estate markets came out to 97.76 days in September. New homes are remaining on the market slightly longer than they were in August, when the three-month average DOM was 97.05 days.

Specifically in Dallas-Fort Worth, new homes sat on the market for 122 days before selling in September, in a slight uptick from August’s DOM of 121.14 days.

New home inventory
New home inventory (the number of active listings on the market) in Texas is also on the rise. The three-month average inventory in September came out to 32,337 new listings, versus 31,893 in August. Active new home listings rose in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and Austin, but decreased in San Antonio.

“Dallas-Ft. Worth's active listings in September increased to 7,939 versus 7,686 in August,” the report said.

There were 12,994 active listings in Houston, 6,019 active listings in Austin, and 5,384 in San Antonio in September.

HomesUSA.com founder Ben Caballero cited fluctuating mortgage rates as one of the main reasons why Texas’ real estate market is “showing mixed signals.”

“...But the silver lining is that sales compared to the same time last year are up 12 percent,” said Caballero.

The monthly Texas New Home Sales Report combined the four largest new home markets – Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, and San Antonio – to determine its overall statewide data, which comprise the vast majority of new home sales in Texas.

texas real estate report housing market dallas fort worth austin houston san antonio

Prep to Protest

Texas homeowners have one month to protest and lower their property taxes

Jessie Street home front Austin tour of remodeled homes

Photo courtesy of Austin NARI Tour of Remodeled Homes

Here's how Texans can correct their property taxes when they feel their home appraisal is too high.

Texans who are unhappy with their home appraisal this tax season have a chance to do something about it if they get the process going in the next month. The deadline for most people to protest their property valuation — thus lowering their property tax — in Dallas County is May 15.

If you haven't done it before, don't worry: There are steps to follow online and companies that do it for you at no cost unless you save money.

Why protest?
Texans pay the 7th highest property taxes in the country, according to personal finance website WalletHub. If your county has overappraised your home, you are paying more than you need to in property taxes.

Protests are especially important and easy for people who closed on their homes in the past year, because the value of the property upon sale is accepted as the true value of the property. This assumes that if the property were worth more, it would have sold for more. The more recently the home sold, the more likely it is that homeowners haven't meaningfully altered the property since the purchase.

Submitting a protest is free, and there is almost no risk in doing so. The Appraisal Review Board is prohibited from raising the property value in a hearing. Homeowners may decide it's not worth their time if their appraisal barely changes and they don't save a significant amount of money.

When to submit
Most homeowners whose home has increased in value according to the county should have received a Notice of Appraisal in the mail by now. It tells them how much the county believes their home is worth this year. To check online, homeowners can search for their property at dallascad.org.

The deadline to submit a protest is May 15 or 30 days after the notice is mailed — whichever comes later. However, the notice may have been lost or delivered to the wrong place, so it is important to check before May 15 just in case. Notices are also sent later for property owners whose primary residence is somewhere else.

There are lots of ways homeowners can try to prove their home value has not increased, or even that it has decreased due to damage on the property. Whether the evidence is photos of damage or "comps" around the neighborhood — comparing the home's value to others of a similar quality in the same area — homeowners submitting their claim themselves should be prepared to meet with an appraiser or even a review board.

Set it and forget it
Homeowners who don't want to deal with the paperwork, phone call, or hearing can hire service to protest on their behalf. For them, savings are essentially passive income; the service uses data from past years and the surrounding neighborhood to argue the client's case. It is easy to find a service that works on a contingency fee, so the cost is only a portion of the successful savings. Ownwell is a popular choice, but it's not the only one.

Finally, homeowners should also make sure they're not leaving money on the table by applying for a homestead exemption. This is available to people who own the homes they live in, as opposed to people who own homes and rent them out to others. It subtracts $140,000 from the total valuation of the home before applying the tax rate.

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Prep to Protest

Texas homeowners have one month to protest and lower their property taxes