Home sales across region hit highest peak in years

The statewide recovery is particularly strong in the DFW area, said Jim Gaines, research economist at the Texas A&M Real Estate Center.

"We've most definitely got a housing recovery under way, in terms of sales, in terms of prices," he said. "The good thing about North Texas in particular is that we didn't have such a dramatic falloff that the recovery has that much to go to be a real positive influence."

Across Texas, he said, third quarter sales were up 14-15 percent.

The year-to-date numbers also tell the story.

Colleyville, Southlake

In Colleyville, 385 homes sold from January through October this year, compared to 299 last year, Evans said, using numbers he compiled using North Texas Real Estate Information Systems, Inc.

During the same period in Southlake, he said, 495 homes sold compared to 382.

Cassie Davis of Prudential Texas Properties in Colleyville, said June was "the best June since the financial crisis back in 2007, in just Southlake and just Colleyville."

She said sales in Southlake are up 32 percent over this time last year.

"It's a definite improvement for the seller and, given that interest rates are still low, it's a good time still for a buyer," she said. Interest rates are hovering around 3.5 percent.

Lavon Bolech, who opened her Keller Williams Realty office in Southlake in 2008, said it was a hot sales summer in Grapevine as well.

"What most of us saw this summer, which we had not seen in four years, was multiple offers," she said. Sellers in Grapevine with homes on the market frequently had several agents at the door after just two or three days, she said.

The year-to-date increase in Grapevine wasn't quite as dramatic — a total of 458 homes sold from January to October this year, up from 392 during the same period in 2011, according to figures Evans provided.

Bolech's take on the uptick in Grapevine: "People are tired of waiting. There are a lot of buyers and not as many sellers, so the houses that were out there went really quickly."

'Comfort moves'

Evans said he's surprised to see the increase in sales continue even after the school year started.

"It still dropped off some, but it's sort of abnormal for things to keep flying off the shelves," he said.

He said he's seen buyers in Colleyville returning to "comfort moves. They're tired of using the fourth bedroom as a study. They want a real study. Those went way down when the market fell in '08."

He said he was also surprised to see homes put on the market in Colleyville lately by corporations relocating employees.

"Most corporations, especially every four years, are not moving people around until after the election, in December," he said. "But we've got two or three corporate transfers on the market for the last 30 days."

Bolech said that even in the stronger market, sellers need to prepare their homes.

"You still have to have it priced right, and it still has to be in good condition. If your paint is awful, the flooring is awful and you've done absolutely no maintenance, it's going to sit."

Westlake home sales nearly double

Westlake, with only slightly more than 1,000 residents, is having a real estate boom this year — so far 29 properties have sold, compared to 15 last year by the end of October.

The near-doubling of sales was driven by both lower prices that came as a result of the economic downturn and attractive schools options, real estate agents said.

Roxann Taylor of Roxann Taylor and Associates in Southlake said the Great Recession widened price ranges in the exclusive gated communities of Vaquero and Glenwyck Farms.

"Some of these houses that sold this year are very different," she said. "That buyer would not have been able to buy that house five years ago."

Agent Jeff Watson, with Briggs, Freeman and Sotheby's International in Roanoke, said sales in Glenwyck Farms often are driven by the fact that children who live there can choose to attend either Westlake Academy, the city's charter school, or Carroll Independent School District.

The influx of new families is among the issues forcing the town to look at expanding Westlake Academy, which has more than 600 students, 2,079 from out of town on a waiting list and a capacity of 800.

Westlake prices, even in their lowered state, are among the highest in the area. The average sales price from January to October, according to an analysis by Taylor, was $1.7 million. That included one home that sold for $5 million.