Market Snapshot: March 2020

Curious how the North Texas housing market is performing? Take a look at the latest stats.

Click to enlarge photo.

Everyone’s concerned about the Coronavirus, its impacts on the economy, and on housing. Before the Coronavirus took hold, housing was very strong, with both new construction data and existing home sales at 13-year highs. 

We expect the strength to resume when things get better, and they will get better! Sure, there might be a slower period as we social distance from each other, but when it comes back it’s going to come back strong.

Did you know affordability is actually improving in the United States? In addition to that, homes are valued very fairly; they’re not over-priced.

Look at this metric- when you take annual rents, the value of a home is about 17 times what annual rents would be. The historical average is 16, so we’re right there. The peak was 24 times annual rents and we’re nowhere near that level! And if you take a look at replacement costs, home values are 1.59 times the cost to replace the home. The 40-year average is 1.58. It’s nowhere near the peak of roughly 2.

We can expect housing to come back very strong and this may be a great opportunity to buy that home you were looking for and benefit from it well into the future.

Stay safe and healthy!

Elizabeth O.