Texas home builders scrambling as interest rates rise

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) — Home builders in Texas are getting creative as higher interest rates are cooling the housing market.

There are now incentives for home buyers and higher commissions and bonuses for real estate agents. The idea is to prevent heavy price markdowns amidst rising inventory.

“With inventory increasing, and the pace of new home sales starting to slow, builders are implementing multiple strategies to avoid price reductions,” said Ben Caballero, CEO of HomesUSA.com.

A new report shows home sales dipped in September in both Dallas-Ft. Worth and Houston, the two largest markets in Texas.

But the opposite was true in Austin and San Antonio, where both markets saw slight increases in home sales from August to September.

The HomesUSA.com New Home Sales Index shows the new home sales pace slowed slightly for the first time in six months as the 3-month moving average for Days on Market was 50.96 days versus 50.87 days in August.

The 3-month average of new home prices in Texas was $467,956 in September, down from $472,129 in August. New home prices were lower last month in Dallas-Ft. Worth, Austin, and San Antonio, but Houston’s average home price was higher.

The HomesUSA.com Index is reported as both a 3-month and 12-month moving average of the Days on Market (DOM) for new homes listed in the local Multiple Listing Services (MLSs) for the four largest Texas markets, including Dallas-Ft. Worth, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio.