According to a recent report in the Dallas Morning News, the housing market in North Texas is due for a rebound.

"The only question, analysts say, is how strong the bounce-back will be. And that depends on the economy, of course." Any sustained turnaround in sales and construction activity will definitely depend on the economy and job growth," said D'Ann Petersen, a business economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. "We do see increasing signs that the local economy has bottomed out, and business contacts say they are through cutting staff."

Petersen said there are signals that the worst is over for the Dallas-Fort Worth housing market. Next year will look better for builders and buyers.
"It will be slow going in 2010, but I do think that Dallas' housing market is in a better position than many other areas of the country to respond to positive economic growth," she said.

During the last two months, sales of pre-owned homes have increased significantly from year-ago numbers, and price declines have slowed. At the same time, the number of homes for sale in North Texas has fallen to the lowest level in more than two years.

Given the demand from homebuyers, builders will have to start more houses in 2010, said David Brown, an analyst with Metrostudy Inc.

"There now is currently less than a six-month supply of homes priced under $250,000 and just over a six-month supply of homes priced between $250,000 and $500,000," Brown said.

"If homebuilders are not able to start as many homes as they are closing because of lending constraints, then some of those buyers may be forced into the resale market and could cause new home closings to fall further next year."

Source: Dallas Morning News

Two metro areas in Texas have been named among the hottest buyers markets by Housing Predictor, a real estate analysis and forecasting site.

The top 10 buyers markets listed by Housing Predictor at mid-year are markets that aren't necessarily big arts and entertainment centers, mostly found in smaller communities.

Amarillo, Texas takes the first position as the nation's top buyers market in 2009 with the highest likelihood of housing appreciation over the next few years. Austin, Texas and Tucson, Arizona are the largest metro areas to be named to the list possessing the highest probability of growing through the recessionary economy over the next few years. As a high-tech hub, Austin will have what it takes to not only sustain the downturn but see home values inflate.

Listed from highest forecast appreciation to lowest.

10 Hottest Buyers Markets:

1. Amarillo, TX

2. Sioux Falls, SD

3. Biloxi, MS

4. Logan, UT

5. Bismarck, ND

6. Bozeman, MT

7. Baton Rouge, LA

8. Austin, TX

9. Casper, WY

10. Tucson, AZ

Source: Housing Predictor

According to the latest Zillow Real Estate Market Reports, home values in Burleson increased 5.1% in the second quarter of 2009, compared to the second quarter of 2008.  Nationally, home values decreased 12.1% during this same period

According to a recent report on home price data from First American CoreLogic, Texas was one of a dozen states to show home price increases in the past year, during a time when national resale prices fell 11.6 percent.

Texas placed fifth out of 12 states showing positive or flat appreciation. At 1.83 percent appreciation, Texas followed West Virginia (5.69 percent), New York (3.9 percent), North Dakota (3.78 percent) and South Dakota (2.32 percent).

Trailing Texas were Montana (.5 percent), Vermont (.23 percent), Kansas (.22 percent), Missouri (.16 percent), Iowa (.12 percent), Louisiana (.1 percent) and Colorado (0 percent).

Topping the list of price depreciation were Nevada (-26.9 percent), California (-26.7 percent), Arizona, (-21.3 percent), Rhode Island (-19.7 percent) and Florida (-19.5 percent).

Among the country's 35 largest metropolitan markets, three of the only four showing overall appreciation were based in Texas. They included: Austin-Round Rock at 3.92 percent, Houston-Sugarland-Baytown at 3.58 percent, and Dallas-Plano-Irving at 1.54 percent. Denver-Aurora also showed positive appreciation at .97 percent.

According to the study, the number of metropolitan markets experiencing price declines was, by far, the highest level tracked by the Loan Performance HPI. As of January 2009, more than 700, or nearly three-quarters, of all metropolitan markets were experiencing home price depreciation, up from 254 markets experiencing depreciation in December 2007 and 394 in June 2008.

Since US home prices peaked in July 2006, they have declined 21.2 percent on a cumulative basis and are currently back to the lowest price level since March 2004.

Source: First American CoreLogic