Home inventory up, prices stable in North Texas, and agent commissions might surprise you

DALLAS — If you are shopping for a home in D-FW, you may be disappointed by higher prices and stubbornly high mortgage rates. But at least you have more homes to choose from now, compared to the sometimes bare bones inventory of the past several years.

In the most recent 10 months for which we have data (April 2024 through January 2025), the Dallas-Plano-Irving real estate market has maintained more than three months’ worth of housing inventory. We haven’t seen a string of months where the supply of available homes on the market has been at that level since 2012-2013. 

Give or take a month, the story is almost identical in the Fort Worth-Arlington-Grapevine market. The data comes from the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University. 

A three-month supply of homes simply means that at the current rate at which homes are selling, it would take three months to sell them all. For perspective, as we were coming out of the pandemic, there were periods when there was only two to three weeks’ supply of available homes. That was when we saw extraordinary bidding wars between multiple buyers who were trying to land one of the scarce homes for sale. 

Considering that, real estate broker Joe Atkins of Joe Atkins Realty says buyers who may be dissatisfied with a lack of bargains in this strong real estate market should take some comfort by just remembering back to those prior conditions, 

“Let’s look at the bright side: As a buyer 2 1/2 years ago, you had to jump on the same house 20 other people were trying to buy,” Atkins said.

Despite the fact that we aren’t seeing as many of those bidding wars now, and that people putting their homes up for sale now have more competition, home prices here have been holding steady or even edging up. 

But for buyers who despair over that, and the persistently higher mortgage rates, Atkins offers this practical observation,

“Everybody’s got to realize this is the new normal. Life goes on. If you need a house…you have housing needs…move forward,” he said. 

We have been checking in regularly with Atkins as the local real estate market has gone through many gyrations during and after the pandemic. For the past couple of years, he has mentioned that some buyers have stayed on the sidelines, waiting for a more affordable time to jump in. 

But Atkins says lately he has noticed a sort of ‘realty reality’ sinking in for some buyers. One example: Atkins represents a buyer who was interested in a particular home last summer. However, he said, “our buyer didn’t like where it was priced and the seller didn’t agree with the price we offered. We looked at other stuff…that house went off the market…(then) came back on.”

A lot of time (and effort) later, just this month, that same buyer made an offer again on that same house. And this time, Atkins says, “we came to an agreement yesterday, almost nine months later”.

Atkins says the new offer was very similar to the old offer, but that the seller and buyer were more motivated to close the small differences between them that they couldn’t agree to when they negotiated last year.

“Everybody gave a little,” he said. 

In the end, Atkins says the deal that got done was very close to the deal that got away last year. He underscores that it all comes down to one key word: “Compromise…which I think is something that’s going to be big this year, because the stubbornness of a lot of sellers and the stubbornness of a lot of buyers have both been losing.”

That perfectly sets up this point for sellers, who normally want to price their home at or above the prices for comparable listings nearby. Atkins has noticed some sellers now offering their homes for just slightly less than the others. 

While it can be disadvantageous for you to significantly under-value your property, Atkins says the tactic of pricing just under the other homes for sale can make your property get noticed and persuade buyers that, “this house seems like a deal!”

In turn, he says that can spur multiple offers from competing buyers who each have that, “I don’t want to lose mentality…I’m willing to pay more. And then from a seller’s perspective, you probably end up at the number or higher if you would have just listed it at where the market said it was worth. I’m seeing it happen. And I think pricing is everything in the current market. Pricing always matters, but it matters a lot more now when there’s a lot more inventory.”

Atkins says buyers have been active lately.

“We’ve had open houses where we’ve had a lot of people showing up,” he said.

So, he is expecting a busy spring and summer selling season. 

With prices and mortgage rates where they are, buyers may not have as much extra money to fix things up after purchase. So, Atkins has noticed that more of them are looking for the house that is well maintained, updated, clean, freshly painted, and move-in ready,.

“Those are the homes that are selling the fastest…are selling for the highest price. So, that’s always the case. But even more so in this current market,” Atkins said.

Atkins says he’s noticed that there are buyers who would, “rather pay more for the house” that is ‘turnkey’ like that. 

“Your payment may be a little higher as you’re actually buying a more expensive home, but you’re getting what you want without having to come…out of pocket (with) cash after you close” to fix up the place, he explained.

For a long time, it was customary for a seller to pay their real estate agent and to pay most or all of the commission for the buyer’s real estate agent as well. But then, as I reported last year, there was a huge lawsuit about commissions that ended with an enormous settlement and some new rules.

It looked like we might be in for a total paradigm shift regarding commissions. Well, Atkins shares that since then, “Um, nothing’s changed.” Wait, what? This was supposed to shake up everything. 

But anecdotally, I have heard the same take from other real estate professionals as well. They say many home sellers who want to attract buyers (especially now that there is more inventory on the market) are still offering to compensate the buyer’s agent when the deal is done. 

In fact, Atkins adds that, “given the current market, a lot of people are paying more commission because they want more eyes on their house.” 

That is a trend confirmed recently by Redfin, which recently saw agent compensation tick higher for homes priced under $500,000. 

Atkins says many buyers he represents want to know more than just the details of each available house—like square footage and number of bedrooms and bathrooms. They are also curious about the specifics on whether the seller is willing to help pay the buyer’s agent.

“They’re like, ‘will you let us know before we even look at some of the houses what the compensation is?’” Atkins said. 

When representing sellers, Atkins says he has the talk: “You want to be competitive? It probably behooves you to offer some type of compensation. Because if your neighbor and the other houses are and you aren’t…you’re probably at a disadvantage.”

When sellers don’t offer that compensation, Atkins has also heard this directive from some buyers: “Let’s move on to this other one because they’re paying (toward the commission for the buyer’s agent)”.

Industry changes and ever-changing market conditions have created challenges for the licensed professionals who offer the expertise to help buyers and sellers navigate the high stakes and often complex, nuanced, and potentially financially perilous process of buying and selling real estate.

So, Atkins and I also discussed recent statistics that showed the 71% of real estate agents didn’t close a single deal last year. Note: A number of real estate agents are not deal closers to begin with, so that gives that stat a little perspective. Still, it’s a high number.

Atkins says his estimation is that most sales are handled by the top 10% of real estate licensees. Additionally, in my own education to become a real estate agent, I learned that it’s about the top 5% of agents who make the most money in real estate.

Performing at a high level in the industry is more difficult now that the high-flying post-pandemic days of quick sales with multiple offers have given way to a less frenzied, more deliberative process. 

So, Atkins says it is no surprise that some in the profession have been leaving.

 “This job is not easy. Please talk to my wife and ask her how easy she thinks this job is and how hard and how much we work,” he said.”