The US housing market is finally starting to see listings rise. But now, in many places, the buyers just aren’t showing up, per Bloomberg.
Contract signings were down at 14% in Houston, West Palm Beach, Florida and Atlanta.
Pending sales was down 3.4% nationwide, per Redfin.
The city’s report is just an estimate because data from the appraisal district doesn’t specify if a home is owned by a company or an individual. However, the city approximated using information about tax exemptions, owner names, and addresses. The city classified owner-occupied homes as those with a homestead exemption, homes where the owner’s address matched the property address, and owner names that didn’t include terms like LLC, LTD, Inc., or trust. Commercially owned properties were defined as those without a homestead exemption, owner names containing the previously mentioned terms, and those where the owner’s address didn’t match the property address. Using those classifications, the city found that 64,372 of the 247,485 single-family homes, or 26%, in Fort Worth were owned by a corporation or company.
The report noted it could not determine whether the commercially owned homes were rentals and did not provide information on whether these homes were owned by corporations. It did note some of the commercial owners were Fort Worth residents who may own a handful of investment properties in addition to their own homes. The median home price in Fort Worth has increased 110% in the last decade, according to data from the Texas A&M Real Estate Research Center. However, prices have been falling, with data from April showing the median home price at the lowest level since January 2022, according to data from the Greater Fort Worth Association of Realtors.
Still, the city has put an increased focus on affordable housing after an August 2023 report found a family earning the city’s median income could not afford a median-priced home. The city’s neighborhood services department proposed in April using taxpayer-supported bonds to fund efforts to increase affordable housing. That proposal, if approved by the City Council, would likely go before voters for approval in the 2026 bond election.
