For Bedford home buyers, the market is showing signs of turning from a seller’s market to a buyer’s advantage where buying could be more affordable after a the recent stretch of skyrocketing prices and rising mortgage rates.

Although home prices continue to rise, Bedford real estate broker and Realtor Scott Killian of Scott Real Estate, Inc., believes growing weaknesses in the market are beginning to favor buyers.  “Homes are staying on the market longer,” he said, and the rate of rising prices has slowed from 15% in 2021 and 19% in 2022 to about 2% in the first half of 2024.  Killian also pointed out that for the past few years – 2020 through 2023 – Bedford homes put up for sale have averaged five to 10 days on the market, but today, are averaging 30 days before securing a buyer.

For sellers, he said, Bedford and HEB home prices, which are averaging about $395,000 or $208 per square foot, are still strong compared to other area cities.  The market in Crowley, he said, for example, has “seen some home values drop 20%.”

Mortgage interest rates also “play a big role in house sales and, as most know, rates went up and slowed the market,” Killian emphasized.  He said, “rates are predicted to slowly start trending down, which should create an uptick in buyers’ purchases.”

According to Freddie Mac, interest rates nationally for a typical 30-year mortgage have started dropping from their recent high of 7.79%, in 2023, to approximately 6.5% today.

Killian stated that he thinks local home prices will remain relatively flat, but hopes the number in inventory of available homes will stop increasing.  “Inventory is high,” he explained, which places pressure on sellers, “so it seems to be a good time for buyers to purchase.  They would prefer a lower interest rate, but if you’re buying now, you typically can negotiate on price where, when rates were low, buyers had to pay over asking price.”

Prices across the Metroplex are showing similar modest gains, according to the Texas Association of Realtors (TAR), rising only 1.4% in this year’s first quarter compared to 2023 with the median DFW home priced at about $390,000.  But pressure on sellers is also increasing with the number of home sale listings up more than a third, at 34.8% while the number of closings remains nearly flat, down marginally by 0.4%, TAR numbers reveal in their quarterly report.

Although the median home price across Texas is somewhat lower, at $330,000, the numbers from TAR show a similar movement in the market advantage toward the buyer.  In addition, the median number of days a home has been on the market over the past month in Tarrant County was 41 days, compared to 29 days for the same period last year.