Home Sales Predicted to Rise 3% – 5% in 2020

DFW: In 2019, North Texas real estate agents sold a record of more than 108,000 homes. Four-fifths of the Dallas area’s residential districts had an increase in home sales in 2019. Biggest percentage increases were in fast-growing communities north of Dallas. Prosper and Melissa home sales were up 20%. Anna sales were up 17% and Colleyville 13%. Lower mortgage costs in the second half of the year boosted sales. Median home sale prices in 2019 rose in all but eight Dallas-area neighborhoods. Number of homes on the market rose about 9% over last year. Biggest price gains were in more affordable areas in Southeast Dallas (+10%), Southern Dallas (+10%) and Grand Prairie (+ 10%). Outlook for 2020 is 3%-5% home price gains. Highlights:

Far North Dallas: Sales 1,026 (-1%) Median Price $442,000 (-1%)
North Dallas: Sales 684 (+2) Median Price $900,250 (-8%)
East Dallas: Sales 2,302 (+3%) Median Price $375,000 (-3%)
Oak Lawn: Sales 85 (+1%) Median Price $437,500 (+18%)
Park Cities: Sales 722 (+1%) Median Price $1,300,000 (+5%)
Southlake: Sales 5,554 (-1%) Median Price $755,000 (0%)

DFW: The retail market in DFW ended 2019 with a 93% occupancy rate, highest recorded since 1981, according to the Weitzman Forecast. The firm does an annual inventory of about 200.5 million-square feet in projects with 25,000-square feet or more. They note that restaurants are the most valuable player of retail leasing and the low construction market is here for the foreseeable future. The firm predicts 2020 will be the eighth strong year in a row. DFW leads the country in new multifamily units with 140,000 new units since 2010. That residential growth has created retail demand and boosted existing retail centers. For the first time in the survey’s 45 years history, every single category reported occupancy above 90%. Malls were 90.6%, small strip centers were above 90%. The multifamily boom drives demand and developers are renovating 14 older centers. Today’s larger centers can have as many as 10 restaurants compared to two a decade ago The survey showed 418 community centers in DFW report an average of four restaurants per center.

Phoenix: One in eight owner-occupied homes in the U.S., about 9 million homes, are set to hit the market from 2017 through 2027, as baby boomers start to die in greater numbers. The total is up from seven million homes in the prior decade. By 2037, one-quarter of the U.S. for-sale housing stock, roughly 21 million homes, will be vacated by seniors. That is more than twice the number of new homes built during the 10-year period that spanned the last housing bubble, reports the Wall Street Journal. Gen Xers and millennials are preferring to live in cities or suburbs in major metro areas with shops and restaurants within walking distance. They are showing little interest in migrating to planned, agerestricted retirement enclaves in sunnier corners of the U.S. lined with golf courses, community centers and man-made lakes. A study from the Harvard Housing Center shows many households in their pre-retirement years, age 50-64, are less likely to own a home than prior generations. A housing sales glut could have wide reaching consequences. Demand may shrink in places like Arizona, Florida, Nevada and Utah. Small towns and rural areas where young adults are less likely to migrate could face depressed housing prices and a slowdown in new homes.

Park City: A 2,670-acre ranch in Oakley, Utah, has sold for $32.5 million, a record price for the state. Known as Riverbend Ranch, the property includes a 16,800-square foot, eight bedroom home and its own helicopter pad.

D.C.: A Northern Virginia three-acre estate on the Potomac River between McLean and Arlington, owned by the founder of AOL, has sold for $45 million, the most expensive residential sale on record in the Washington, D.C. area. The main house has 24,500-square feet, six bedrooms, four kitchens, a 30-car garage, pool and tennis court. An adjacent guest house was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.