Dallas-Fort Worth home sellers had a record return in 2020.

Sellers gained an average $84,553 in home trades last year, according to a new study by Attom Data Solutions.

That’s up by more than 8% from 2019 and almost double the D-FW returns of five years ago.

Nationwide, home sellers had a gain of $68,843 from a typical sale, according to Attom Data.

“Demand remained strong as people who could afford the space and relative safety of single-family homes did just that, aided by super-low mortgage rates and a strong stock market,” Teta said. “But they went after a narrowing supply of housing stock, so prices soared and so did seller profits. While it’s unclear how long that will last, in the annals of history, there will be few years recorded as better for sellers and more challenging for buyers.”

The nationwide median sales price last year rose 13% to $266,250, according to the report.

Residential values were up by at least 10% in half the country’s metro areas in 2020. Home prices reached new peaks in 129 of the 132 metros Attom analyzed, including Dallas, Houston, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

With a shortage of homes for sale in many cities — including D-FW — owners are staying put longer.

In North Texas, the average tenure of sellers was almost eight years.

Across the country, the average home seller’s tenure was 8.33 years — the longest ownership span recorded in more than 20 years.

With home foreclosure moratoriums in effect because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the volume of distressed property sales was at a 15-year low.

In D-FW area, less than 5% of 2020 home trades were distressed sales, Attom Data researchers found.

Information provided by Dallas News

By Steve Brown

12:00 AM on Jan 28, 2021