The Dallas housing market is facing a number of challenges potentially putting buyers in the driver’s seat.

DALLAS — Home prices in North Texas declined over the past year as inventory grew and homes stayed on the market longer, according to new data from the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Home Price Index.

This could be good news to people looking to purchase a new home.

The index shows Dallas home prices fell 1.52% from December 2024 to December 2025, placing the metro among the weakest-performing markets of the 20 cities tracked. The report noted widening geographic divergence, with Chicago and New York posting gains above 5%, while Tampa, Phoenix, Dallas and Miami recorded some of the steepest declines among markets that ended the year in negative territory.

According to S&P Cotality Case-Shiller, inflation outpaced home price appreciation beginning in June 2025, eroding real home values through the end of the year and reversing a decade-long trend of positive real returns.

“Two structural forces have reshaped the market over recent years: mortgage rates and inflation,” said Nicholas Godec, head of Fixed Income Tradables & Commodities at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “The 30-year mortgage rate closed 2025 at 6.2%, well above the 4.8% 10-year average and a sharp contrast to the 3.9% average that prevailed from 2016 through 2020. Meanwhile, annual inflation for 2025 came in at 2.7% — modestly below the 3.1% 10-year average — but still outpaced home price appreciation by 1.4 percentage points, effectively eroding real home values for most owners.”

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Local listing data reflect a market that has cooled significantly from its pandemic-era peak.

According to Realtor.com, the median listing price in Dallas was $397,000 in January 2026. That is down 0.5% from last year and 7.67% over the last three years. 

Inventory has also expanded. There were 4,691 active listings in December 2025, that’s down 5.8% year-over-year and a whopping 60% compared with three years ago.

Homes are taking longer to sell as well. In December 2025, homes were on the market for of an average 79 days, 8.2% longer than a year ago and 49% longer than 2022.

The combination of falling prices, rising inventory and longer selling times underscores ongoing challenges in the Dallas housing market.