Home price index shows uptick for Dallas area
SMU economist Bernard Weinstein, associate director of the Maguire Energy Institute, talks about the Dallas home prices picture.
By STEVE BROWN
The Dallas Morning News
After more than two years of declines, home prices have finally turned positive for Dallas in the closely watched Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Index.
Residential values in the Dallas area were up 1.4 percent in November from a year earlier – the first increase in the price index of pre-owned homes since September 2007.
The Dallas area also performed the best out of the 20 cities Case-Shiller tracks each month in the survey released Tuesday.
The upbeat Dallas numbers support other recent reports that show residential values in the area are no longer falling. . .
Economists are cautious given the fragile state of the U.S. financial markets and sluggish consumer spending.
"I don't think it's time to celebrate," said Bernard Weinstein, an economist with Southern Methodist University. "We still have a lot of cleanup to do before the local housing market reaches equilibrium."
But Weinstein said the strong Case-Shiller number "gives more testimony to the strength of the metroplex economy and the likelihood of an ongoing recovery in the local housing market."
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