You know that housing price slump we’ve managed to avoid for the past couple of years? It hasn’t yet arrived in Lake Highlands, which seems to be holding its own compared to other neighborhoods where we do magazines.
That’s one of the findings in the third Advocate Home Price Snapshot, compiled with the help of Ron Burch at Coldwell Banker. In fact, there seems to be a flight toward affordability in Lake Highlands. Two of the three ZIP codes in our neighborhood showed an increase in the average sale price of a single-family home from 2007 to 2008, led by 75231’s 8.5 percent gain. There was a 4.6 percent increase for 75238, and the decline in 75243 was just 2.8 percent, the slightest decline of the eight ZIP codes in Lake Highlands, East Dallas, and Lakewood.
Overall, sale prices fell in 2008 from 2007 in five of the eight ZIP codes where we deliver magazines in those three neighborhoods. That compares to just one ZIP code that showed a decline in January 2007 from 2006. Meanwhile, the average sale price in 2008 declined in 14 of the 23 ZIP codes where we publish magazines. That compares to six declines in the 2007-2006 numbers. (We used sales figures through Nov. 30 reported to the North Texas Real Estate Information System. A chart with complete figures for all 23 ZIP codes is on our website at advocatemag.com/home_price_snapshot.)
Among the other findings:
• Fewer homes were offered for sale in 2008, fewer homes sold, and they mostly took longer to sell, despite the price declines. A couple of the increases in days on market were significant — 61 to 88 days in 75231, and 81 to 97 days in 75243 — though most were not significant.
• These movements were especially noticeable in the second half of 2008, and especially for homes offered for sale. In the first six months in 75218, 506 homes were on the market. Through Nov. 30, there were only 255 homes on the market. In 75223, the figures were 143 and 48.
•The results were more mixed in terms of price per square foot. In 75214, which saw a 9 percent decline in sales price, the price per foot fell just 2.3 percent. But 75206, which saw a 5.1 percent increase in sale price, saw price per square foot fall almost 1 percent.
• There are key differences between ZIP codes in how far prices have fallen. In 75214, for example, prices did not drop to 2006 levels. In 75223, on the other hand, prices are closer to 2005 levels.
