No surprises here, total home sales are way down in the metroplex. Not just way down, but down 14% for 2008. This is on top of an 8% overall decline in 2007. In fact, our total sales are back to 2002 levels. You can read about it all here.
This shouldn’t really shock anyone though, as the economy has essentiall been set back about half a decade also. Compound this with the fact that banks are sitting pretty courtesy the fed’s, but don’t seem to be passing on the funds to consumers these days, and getting a loan just appears to be a pipe dream. It’s not just you, I heard that Finley couldn’t close the Carter Bugress building purchase because they couldn’t get a loan.
Conventional wisdom would say that this is the time to own rental properties, but that sector is hurting also. DFW apartment occupancy fell by 6000 units according to Dallas News. The really bothersome issue is that buildouts have not ceased, in fact, they appear to be rampant. What will we do with all this square footage glut? Look for deals.
I have written lately about the strong fundamentals of DFW commerical space, but I would look for some key defaults to open up investment opportunities. It just may be the other shoe to national mortgage default trends.
