Single-family home starts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area dropped more than 17 percent during the fourth quarter, according to statistics released by Residential Strategies Inc. With 9,629 units, it was the weakest quarter for housing starts in two years, the Dallas-based research firm reported. Sales of new homes in the fourth quarter also dropped about 4 percent compared to a year earlier. Builders sold 10,956 homes. But with almost 12,000 unsold new houses on the market in North Texas, there may be further declines in construction, said Residential Strategies' Ted Wilson. Early spring is normally a boom time for residential builders. "Things are not gloomy in the Dallas-Fort Worth area," Wilson said. But there are "adjustments that need to take place over the next six months." Even with the recent cutbacks, builders managed to start a record 48,035 homes in the D-FW area last year. Sales totaled just over 46,000 units, an increase of about 5 percent. At the end of 2006, about a three-month supply of unsold new homes was on the market in North Texas. The fourth-quarter decline in new home sales mirrors the fall-off in sales of preowned homes in North Texas. Earlier this week, the North Texas Real Estate Information System reported that preowned home sales in December were down 5 percent from a year earlier.
[Dallas Morning News]
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