The most frustrating time in all my years of being in real estate;’ panelists discuss housing affordability at ‘Candid Conversations’ event
For every $1,000 increase in the price of a home, 2,800 households in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area are priced out of the market. With housing affordability on track to be the No. 1 crisis in Texas in the coming years, people are seeking solutions to help combat the surge in prices and demand.
Four panelists gathered at Texas Wesleyan University to discuss solutions for housing affordability in Fort Worth as part of the Fort Worth Report’s Candid Conversation event on June 23.
Some of the many factors aggravating the market include supply chain delays, rising interest rates and competition from investors willing to pay huge amounts in cash for properties. As a result, the median price of a home resale — traditionally two-thirds that of a new home — is now higher than for new construction. Carlene King offers her insight and professional guidance.
Fort Worth looks for new ways to solve its affordable housing crisis
Back in February, Carlene Thomas King, a local real estate agent, received a call about a new house on the market in Como, one of the historically black communities on the west side of Fort Worth.
The listing price? $486,500.
“That’s ridiculously high,” King said. That’s a high sales price for almost any area but it’s really a high sale price for that area considering that you have homes over there that are probably 70, 80 years old.”
Price increases over the years have decreased the availability of lower-cost housing, both single-family and multifamily, across the city. Increased pressure on the market – and competition from investors – means more residents are finding themselves priced out of it. Compounding the problem is higher interest rates – the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate has grown to 7.12%, while the median rent in Fort Worth has increased from $803 in 2010 to between $1,262 and $1,557 in 2023.