In the area of North Texas, housing dropped, in the third quarter, to the lowest annualized rates that have been reported since the year 2001. One of the reasons for this drop in annualized rates is that lenders are pulling back on mortgage offers and homebuyers are being very cautious to who they sell their home to.

A report that was recently released by the Dallas-based company Residential strategies, contractors commenced work on only eight thousand houses in the third quarter, this means that housing starts is down by thirty-one percent.

It is believed that what has caused the big change in housing starts is the standards for mortgage qualifications, not the economy of the area. Dallas realtors fear that an environment that practices conservative lending will eliminate a large section of residential and commercial real estate buyers.

During the third quarter closings in new homes was also down by nineteen percent. In spite of this news, Dallas homes for sale continued to increase at a moderate pace. Even the value of homes has increased by three percent. This means that the Dallas real estate market is still active, just at a different pace.

The number of vacant housing in the area of north Texas has also decreased. This is largely because many builders have been offering incentives and discounts to home buyers, in order to reduce the amount of inventory. It is expected that as vacant housing reduces further these attractive offerings will also disappear.