With numbers from Q1 and Q2 now in, the housing market is starting to show signs of a slowing pace. This change is not surprising to many in the industry and is considered by many to be a good sign.
In general, the market saw prices up over 10 percent in Q2 from last year, but those gains are down a bit from recent peaks. And, in general, the housing numbers have been mixed. Starts and sales, though up significantly from recent years, remain quite low by historical standards, and they don’t appear to be on the verge of surging higher.
North Dakota once again proves to be the dominant leader in having the nation’s fastest housing growth in the country, a title it’s earned for the last three years, according to Census Bureau statistics. The oil boom continues to drive up demand for housing throughout the state.
North Dakota added 10,207 housing units in 2013, a growth of 3.1 percent, higher than any other state in the country. The national average growth rate was 0.3 percent.
While surveys show homebuilder confidence reached a high in June compared to the past five months, actual new home construction dropped slightly. Potential homebuyers who feel it is a good time to buy a house rose to 70 percent, and those who say it is a good time to sell a house fell to 40 percent.
Things are even brighter in the Lone Star State, specifically the Dallas Metroplex area. According to North Texas Real Estate Information Systems, the median sales price of homes increased 4.8 percent in April from the prior year, to $180,713.
Prices are rising in the Dallas area, but homes continue to sell more quickly. The average number of days for a home listing to sit on the market was 54 days, a 12 percent decrease from 2013.
So what do the final numbers for Q2 tell us about the state of the current housing market? The results show that homebuyer confidence is rising, homebuilder confidence is rising, and home seller confidence is leveling out as the number of available prebuilt homes remains high.