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FAR NORTH DALLAS JULY 2009

Downhill Slide ND

Like most of Dallas, our neighborhood is losing ground in the real estate market

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The housing price slump that has engulfed the rest of the country, but seemed to hold off in parts of Far North Dallas last year, made its presence felt in the neighborhood in the first five months of this year.

That’s the biggest news in the fourth Advocate Home Price Snapshot, compiled with the help of Ron Burch at Coldwell Banker. Home sale prices in Far North Dallas, which actually saw some significant increases last year, seem to have started to slide. Single-family home sale prices fell through May 31 in five of six ZIP codes where we deliver magazines in the neighborhood. Three areas declined in 2008 and 2007.

Meanwhile, the average sale price declined in 17 of the 23 ZIP codes where we publish magazines. That compares to 14 declines in the 2008 numbers. (We used sales figures through May 31 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).

There were some significant declines in this neighborhood — 20.4 percent in 75254 and 16.4 percent in 75240. These aren’t Phoenix-style drops, where home prices have fallen in half since the market peaked in the middle of the decade. And, for the most part, home prices haven’t much fallen past 2006 levels.

The other key number? Homes sold, which looks to finish 2009 well below 2008, if present trends hold. Only 22 homes were sold in 75240 through the end of May, compared to 99 in 2008, and only 39 in 75244, compared to 121 in 2008. Interestingly, the number of homes for sale remained more or less consistent with last year’s figures, though there was some increase in days on the market. But the days on market number didn’t seem to correspond with any increase or decrease in sale prices.

Elsewhere in the neighborhoods where we do magazines:

• Lake Highlands was a bright spot, with sales prices increasing in two of the three ZIP codes. The hike wasn’t much in either case, but it looks like the area may have hit bottom in 2007 and be working its way back up.

• Single-family home sale prices in East Dallas and Lakewood fell in all five ZIP codes. Four areas declined in 2008, and just one ZIP code fell in January 2007 from 2006 sale prices.

• Preston Hollow, which held its own in 2008 with increases in three of five ZIP codes, finally looks to be slumping. Prices declined in three areas, and each by 11 percent or more. In 75225, the average sale price dropped 17.9 percent to $1.1 million, about the 2006 average.

• Oak Cliff suffered in the first part of the year, with prices falling in all four ZIP codes we cover between 8 and 10 percent. Average home sale prices in Oak Cliff have almost all retreated to 2003 levels.

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