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Dallas-area home price growth had slowed before the pandemic hit

Prices in North Texas rose only 2.6% in January from a year earlier.

Dallas-area home prices were up just 2.6% in the latest nationwide comparison.

The year-over-year increase in January was one of the area’s lowest gains in more than five years in the Standard & Poor’s CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index.

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Nationwide home prices rose 3.9% from January 2019 levels.

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The survey reflects home price conditions before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the economy and the U.S. housing market.

“It is important to bear in mind that today’s report covers real estate transactions closed during the month of January,” S&P’s Craig J. Lazzara said in the report. “The COVID-19 pandemic did not begin to take hold in the U.S. until late February, and thus whatever impact it will have on housing prices is not reflected in today’s data.

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“The trend of stable growth established in 2019 continued into the first month of the new year.”

Phoenix led the country with a 6.9% annual home price gain. Prices were up from a year ago by more than 5% in Seattle, Tampa and San Diego.

Prices were higher in all 20 of the major U.S. cities included in the survey. Chicago at 0.6% and New York at 0.8% were the lowest among the major markets.

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Even with the slowdown in appreciation, Dallas-area home prices are more than 70% ahead of where they were during the worst of the Great Recession in 2009, according to Case-Shiller.

North Texas’ latest Case-Shiller increase was down from 3.8% in January 2019 and 6.9% in 2018.

Forecasters are warning that home values in many U.S. markets will stall or even decline because of the coronavirus pandemic and expected recession.

“Today’s release captures data through January, so we have a way to go before we see recent developments that have flipped the housing market, and the world, on its head represented,” Zillow economist Matthew Speakman said in a statement.

“Indeed, the world is a very different place than it was in January, but today’s Case-Shiller release is sure to offer some fond memories of the not-so-distant past, and some hope that the industry can continue the growing momentum it was riding to begin the year once this crisis passes.”

The Dallas area had the third-lowest home price gains among the 20 U.S. markets surveyed.
The Dallas area had the third-lowest home price gains among the 20 U.S. markets surveyed.(Case-Shiller)