Dallas-Fort Worth’s home price growth hits another record

The Texas Squeeze: A series examining the high cost of high growth in North Texas.

While home prices grew at a slightly slower rate in April as higher mortgage rates slashed borrower demand, they are still rising faster than ever in North Texas.

Dallas-Fort Worth home prices grew 31% in April, according to the latest report from the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index. National home prices grew 20.4% year over year in April, down from 20.6% in March.

“April 2022 showed initial (although inconsistent) signs of a deceleration in the growth rate of U.S. home prices,” said Craig Lazzara, managing director at S&P, in a statement, adding that the April numbers only reflect the start of interest rate increases that made mortgage loans more expensive. “A more challenging macroeconomic environment may not support extraordinary home price growth for much longer.”

The index compares sales price changes of specific properties over time. Case-Shiller’s price estimate is considered more accurate than home sales data from agents, which can be influenced by the type of properties that are selling each month.

While all 20 metro areas tracked by the index saw double-digit growth, only nine saw prices rise faster than they did in March, including Dallas and other Sun Belt cities Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami and Tampa. This is a shift from the previous five months where the majority of the metro areas saw accelerating price growth.

“With rates continuing their steep ascent and inventory picking up in months since, April is likely the first month of this deceleration as buyers balked at the cost of purchasing a home and pulled out of the market, leading to slower price growth,” said Zillow economist Nicole Bachaud. “While inventory is improving, there is still plenty of room to go before it reaches its pre-pandemic trend.”

The Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University, which uses data from real estate agents’ multiple listings service, reported that the median single-family home in Dallas-Fort Worth sold for $438,000 in May, up 23% from a year prior.