Dallas Real Estate News

Dallas-Fort Worth home sales post steep decline

2008-11-11T12:10:00.000+02:00

Home sales prices also went negative in October, falling 3 percent from a year ago to a median of $140,000. That’s down from a peak of $158,000 in June 2007, according to information gathered through the real estate industry’s multiple listing service.

Through the first 10 months of 2008, the number of home sales in North Texas is down 12 percent from the same period last year and median prices are down 3 percent.

Not all the news in October’s home sales report is bad.

The number of homes for sale in the area has dropped 16 percent. Just over 40,000 homes are on the market – the lowest number since January 2006.

Real estate agents say the for sale inventory is declining in part because many sellers have taken their homes off the market and have decided to wait out the housing downturn.

Fults to Start New Firm in Dallas

2008-09-05T21:03:00.000+03:00

Despite a flat Dallas real estate market, Tracy Fults took a leap of faith in the creation of his new real estate firm of Fults Commercial, following in the footsteps of his late father and one-time mentor Jerry Fults

“The timing is good for me for where I am in my life,” Fults, the president of Fults Commercial, told CPN. “I’ve been in the business for quite a while and this is a good opportunity for me.”

The new firm will concentrate on commercial real estate properties throughout Texas with a focus on North Texas. The company will specialize in landlord representation, tenant representation, and acquisitions and dispositions.

Fults left his position as senior director in agency leasing for Cushman & Wakefield of Texas’ Asset Services Group where he led Cushman & Wakefield’s agency leasing group in Dallas and oversaw or participated in the leasing of millions of square feet of office space.

Prior to joining Cushman & Wakefield, he was an executive director with the Fults Cos., founded by his late father, Jerry Fults. He was “Rookie of the Year” and was recognized for the highest level of production in his last five years with the company, twice earning the company’s top producer award.

Dallas-Fort Worth pre-owned home sales down 20% in June

2008-07-11T00:27:00.000+03:00

Hot summer weather isn't heating up the North Texas home market.

June sales were down 20 percent from a year ago. And for the first six months of 2008, the number of pre-owned houses sold in the area is off 15 percent from the same period last year.

The good news: Prices are holding up relatively well.

North Texas real estate agents sold 7,371 pre-owned homes last month, the North Texas Real Estate Information System and Texas A&M University's Real Estate Center reported Monday.

Dallas officials urge state to require disclosure of real estate sales prices

2008-06-19T16:08:00.000+03:00

Dallas City Council member Angela Hunt argued that sales price disclosure would make the property tax system more equitable and eliminate the breaks that many commercial property owners now enjoy because their appraisals are often well below market value.

"Commercial property owners aren't pulling their weight," Ms. Hunt told the Senate Subcommittee on Property Appraisal and Revenue Caps. "And that has created inequities in our system."

Dallas-Fort Worth pre-owned home sales drop 11%

2008-05-10T03:40:00.000+03:00

Through the first four months of 2008, home sales are off 15 percent in the area, according to statistics released Wednesday from Texas A&M University's Real Estate Center and the North Texas Real Estate Information Systems.

Home sales prices in April were also down 3 percent from a year earlier.

Last month, real estate agents sold 6,751 pre-owned homes through their multiple listing services. That's down from 7,613 in April 2007 and 7,740 sales in April 2006.

Galleria neighbor

2008-04-17T13:29:00.000+03:00

Developers have gotten the go-ahead to build the $1 billion Icon Midtown complex next to the Dallas Galleria.

The project on LBJ Freeway just east of the Dallas North Tollway is to include high-rise office space, a hotel and residences sitting on top of a regional shopping center.

It's to be built on the site of the former Showcase Chevrolet dealership.

"The Dallas City Council just approved our zoning by a vote of 15 to 0," said developer Daniel Robinowitz of Icon Partners. "We are excited about that and ready to move forward."

UT team wins

Dallas Named a Top City for Real Estate Investing

2008-04-06T01:43:00.000+03:00

According to D'Ann Petersen, a business economist with the Dallas Fed, Dallas-Fort Worth is leading the country in population growth. "While this sounds pretty negative – the decline in sales and decline in building – if you look at national totals, Texas is still the No. 1 homebuilding state in the country despite all the pullback. And Dallas-Fort Worth is right up there.”

Petersen continues, “Our closings compared to other metropolitan areas are still quite high. That's our demographics and employment base that is keeping that base of home sales still at a pretty high level compared to other areas."

Dallas real estate agents are sure to take the opportunity of a glowing local review to heart by welcoming home buyers to peruse available listings.

Dallas real estate market is rocking

2008-03-25T10:42:00.001+02:00

Entrepreneurship expert and Texas Christian University professor Ted Legatski said in an e-mail that the current housing market "offers both risks and opportunities."

"I doubt that the current real estate finance situation really has much effect on [the SMU] area." But like almost any business, "being highly leveraged is very risky," says Legatski.

Nina Flournoy, Healy's communication professor at SMU, does not think the housing situation will hold him back. "With his can-do attitude, he could be digging ditches and selling toilet paper rolls and turn it into a wonderful business," Flounoy said.

Dallas Logistics Hub (DLH), its 6,000-acre multi-modal logistics

2008-03-17T12:35:00.000+02:00

FTZ 39 is primarily located at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. It is comprised of 2,469 acres that are available for foreign trade zone use, according to DFW Airport officials (with the addition of the DLH, its footprint will expand to roughly 3,200 acres, according to the Allen Group). And it is a 621-acre business park north of Highway 114 along with two air cargo distribution centers that total more than 70 acres and provide sites with direct ramp access. FTZ 39 also includes a 160,000 square-foot warehouse that is owned by DFW Airport. The warehouse offers multiple services for shippers, including: distribution handling; freight forwarding; export packing; and consolidations, among others.

In Dallas-Fort Worth market, no flood of homes for sale

2008-03-10T10:57:00.001+02:00

Unlike many other areas of the country, the North Texas home market hasn't seen a flood of properties for sale in recent months.

In February, the number of homes offered through the Realtors' multiple listing services dropped 1 percent from a year ago. And the number of listings added to inventory last month was down 7 percent from last year, the North Texas Real Estate Information Service reported Friday.

"That tells you we are getting the properties in and selling them – it's very good news," said Mary Frances Burleson, president of Dallas' Ebby Halliday Realtors. "In comparison to the rest of the country, our market is very healthy."

Foreclosures cut wide swath across Dallas

2008-03-03T19:04:00.000+02:00

On weekends, Coppell real estate agent Tess Langevin loads up a bus full of potential homebuyers and heads out to look at foreclosed properties.

Ms. Langevin has plenty of homes to show.

There were more than 19,000 residential foreclosures in the Dallas-Fort Worth area last year. And thousands more houses are falling into default every month.

The city needs professional help with lakefront property

2008-02-25T13:13:00.000+02:00

The answer to "How much?" is not known yet. Determining that number is not an easy formula for Rowlett or for Dallas. For the time being, let's just say some informed individuals are working on that number. For the rest of us, let's say it is "free." The word "free" should pique our spirited interest and prod us into further discussion.

Let's get the disclaimer out early. What follows is a gross understatement of the complexity of all the details. There is a myriad of questions to be answered before anything resembling a successful acquisition of the land and the final disposition can be accomplished.

Foreclosures, generally high in North Texas

2008-02-20T12:05:00.000+02:00

Big Dallas seemed to be knocking on little Lavon’s door. Thousands of lots were laid out and hundreds of houses built, as developers tried to meet what seemed to be an insatiable appetite for inexpensive single-family homes. Land values soared, the population hit 2,500, and by November, the city was finally flush enough to afford a full-time police department.

But that was when the knocking stopped. Banks were no longer giving mortgages to anyone who could fog a mirror. “For sale” signs went up and stayed up. Weeds, not houses, sprouted on the scraped-earth plots.

Expect credit woes to hit real estate investments

2008-02-16T19:54:00.000+02:00

"The investment sales market is likely to finish at $2.8 billion in 2007, compared to the all-time record of $3.6 billion recorded in 2006," said Steve Harriss, assistant director of research services in C&W's Dallas office. "Liquidity in the debt market diminished in 2007 due to the subprime turbulence.

"Investment sales slowed during the second half of 2007, with many sellers looking towards the first quarter of 2008 to begin marketing their properties."

Sales of Dallas-Fort Worth homes fell 16% in January

2008-02-12T01:12:00.000+02:00

Pre-owned home sales in North Texas fell 16 percent in January compared with a year earlier, according to preliminary statistics released Thursday by the North Texas Real Estate Information Systems and Texas A&M University's Real Estate Center.

While adding to a long run of declines, last month's drop in sales was less than the almost 23 percent decrease in December.

Commercial real estate lending close to a standstill

2008-02-06T02:49:00.000+02:00

Dr. Linneman also gave his perspective on the economy during his presentation Monday to Dallas' Real Estate Council, a trade association made up of more than 1,400 commercial real estate professionals.

Despite Wall Street gyrations and talk of recession, Dr. Linneman is predicting that the worst of the economic decline won't hit the country until after the presidential election.

Real Estate Venture With Sealy

2008-02-02T11:34:00.000+02:00

Principal Financial Group Inc. (PFG) unit Principal Real Estate Investors said it will act on behalf of the California State Teachers' Retirement System in a new joint venture with Sealy & Co. Inc., a Dallas real estate investment firm.

The venture's current equity commitments total about $200 million. It will acquire and develop a portfolio of industrial properties, mostly to be held for long-term income and appreciation.

Downtown Dallas property to be demolished for new project

2008-01-28T08:16:00.000+02:00

An Irving-based apartment builder is redeveloping properties on downtown Dallas' near east side.

JLB Partners – which builds and acquires apartments with operations in about a dozen states – is preparing to demolish a block of old commercial buildings at Ross Avenue and Hall Street to make way for a new project.

Get in the loop on downtown

2008-01-22T12:06:00.000+02:00

Since cities across the country, including Dallas, are revitalizing urban cores by establishing policies that support and encourage urban land development, the Real Estate Council tapped one of the nation's leading experts to share his perspectives.

As familiar as Mr. Hudnut is with the Dallas scene, he is adding to his knowledge by spending the day before the breakfast touring Trinity River neighborhoods in South Dallas to obtain a bird's-eye view of the proposed Trinity River real estate projects.

Dallas office building doesn't seem to match demand for space

2008-01-18T17:35:00.000+02:00

The Dallas-Fort Worth area is one of the fastest-growing office construction markets in the country.

Maybe that's why the same report ranks D-FW as the area with the highest vacancy rate.

New York-based adviser Newmark Knight Frank includes nationwide office numbers in its latest commercial real estate forecast.

Dallas Commercial Real Estate Women to discuss credit crunch

2008-01-15T09:32:00.000+02:00

Beth Lambert-Saul will address a luncheon Wednesday of the Commercial Real Estate Women of Dallas members on "Realities of the Credit Crunch: What Happened & What Now?"

The event, which is open to the public, begins at 11:30 a.m. at the Park City Club, 5956 Sherry Lane.