Terrific Growth in the DFW Real Estate Market

The Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area is growing as it never has before. In fact, the entire state of Texas is experiencing a huge population boom as it draws later in the first decade of the 21^st century. This is terrific news for the local housing market. New population bases will continue to energize builders to continue creating planned developments and will enable existing home sellers to bounce back from the disappointing selling prices dictated by a buyer's market.

Fortune Magazine, a division of CNN Money, recently commissioned Economy.com and Fiserv Lending Solutions to forecast growth over the next few years within housing markets throughout the country. One of the resulting comparisons was a list of metropolitan areas predicted to have the largest housing pricing change - and not surprisingly, four of the top ten are in Texas. Making the list are the metropolitan areas of McAllen/Mission, El Paso, San Antonio and Fort Worth/Arlington.

Home to a terrific mixture of both new communities and well-maintained older homes, the Fort Worth/Arlington portion of the DFW metroplex is a highly desirable area in which to settle. Home to a slower pace of life than neighboring Dallas, Fort Worth more conjures an image of the Old West. Arlington, long a popular city in which to reside located at a convenient distance from both Dallas and Fort Worth, is home to Six Flags Over Texas, the Texas Rangers, and as of 2009, will also be home to the Dallas Cowboys. In return for the wonderful attributes both cities have to offer to homebuyers, sellers will realize a rise in house values of 4.4% in 2007 and 3.5% in 2008, according to survey estimates.

The survey also considered the entire country split into four quadrants, and drew comparisons in forecasted rises in housing values among those quadrants, totaling 100 metropolitan areas. For the South, 36 areas were considered. Among those, the seven Texas areas studied were all in the top ten: McAllen/Mission (#1), El Paso (#2), San Antonio (#3), Fort Worth/Arlington (#5), Houston (#7), Austin (#8), and Dallas/Irving (#9). The top ten in the South was rounded out by #4 Baton Rouge, LA; #6 Birmingham, AL; and #10 Tulsa, OK.

The Dallas/Irving market, as indicated by the study, will also be key to watch in the years to come, as it is estimated to realize an upward swing in property values of 4.1% in 2007 and 3.9% in 2008. Although the overall percentage increase is a bit lower than Fort Worth and Arlington to the west, it is still very respectable and encouraging, taken in terms of the entire market. Catering strongly to those in search of a fast-past lifestyle tinged in luxury, buyers will happily find the atmosphere for which they are search in the Dallas/Irving market.

As the Texas population continues to boom in the years and decades to come, the real estate market in the Dallas/Fort Worth area will experience fluctuations. It seems certain, however, that these fluctuations will benefit the area as a whole, as property values increase throughout the metroplex. As this occurs, the local real estate market will continue to strength in order to serve the needs of both sellers and buyers.

For more information from the study used in this article, please see CNN Money.