D-FW home market just had its worst month in almost a decade

North Texas home sales plunged by 25% in May — the largest such annual decline in almost a decade — as the pandemic chased buyers away.

May’s big home buying decrease mostly reflects property activity in April, the first full month the COVID-19 pandemic affected the local economy.

Condo and townhouse sales plunged almost 40%.

Along with the big drop in home purchases, median home sales prices in May were down 1% from a year earlier. That was the first such decline since 2011, according to preliminary figures from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University and the North Texas Real Estate Information Systems.

The year-over-year declines in North Texas home sales and prices were expected. Some analysts had predicted even steeper May sales slides because of the pandemic shelter-in-place orders and unprecedented job cuts.

“It appears that the demand creation from lower rates is outweighing the demand destruction caused by job loss,” said Ted Wilson, principal with Dallas-based housing analyst Residential Strategies. “The challenge continues to be how to show a house when the occupying household is social distancing and sheltering in place.

“There have been some great advances with virtual tours and minimal contact closings, but many buyers still want to physically inspect a house before buying.“

Some neighborhoods in Dallas-Fort Worth saw significant home price slides.

Median home sales prices were down 15% in the Park Cities from May 2019 levels. And year-over-year prices fell by 12% in East Dallas, 12% in northeast Dallas, 9% in Duncanville and 5% in Mesquite.

North Texas real estate agents sold 8,418 houses last month — the lowest total for the month of May since 2012, when the local home market was still recovering from the Great Recession.

May was the second month in a row that area home sales were hammered by the pandemic. In April, single-family home sales by real estate agents were 17% lower than a year earlier.

Through the first five months of 2020, North Texas home sales are 6% lower than during the same period last year.

The most positive news in May’s housing data was a 15% year-over-year rise in pending sales. The rise in homes put under contract in May could reflect delayed purchases in April and March.

Fewer homes are available for purchase. The inventory of houses listed for sale at the end of May was down 26% from a year earlier in the more than two dozen North Texas counties included in the survey.

“As I’ve been saying, it’s hard to buy something that is not for sale,” said analyst Paige Shipp of CDCG Real Estate. “New listings are still down 12% over last year.

“I don’t think we’ll see a real rebound in sales until that metric is flat or above last year.”

Local real estate agents say homebuyer traffic has picked up significantly. But any increase in home purchase contracts won’t show up until June or July’s numbers are released.

“We had about 10% more home showings in May than in May of last…