Texas home sales rise 5% over last year's 1st quarter

Texas home sales rose almost 5 percent in the first quarter from the same period a year ago. Statewide median sales prices increased more than 3 percent to $141,500, the Texas Association of Realtors said Monday.

Almost 43,000 existing homes were sold in the state during the first three months of 2010, according to the quarterly housing report from the Realtors and the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.

All the gains came in March, Dr. James Gaines, economist with the Real Estate Center, said in the report.

"With March's increased figures, we are cautiously optimistic that we'll continue to see positive results in the second quarter," Gaines said. "We are seeing gradual improvement in the Texas housing market and managing our foreclosure rates well compared to national rates."

Gaines said several cities reported a larger percentage of home sales coming from foreclosed properties.

Among the major cities, Austin had the biggest annual sales gain in the first quarter – up 17.11 percent. Sales were up 12.5 percent in San Antonio and rose 1.8 percent in Houston.

Sorce: Dallas Morning News 06/05/2010 Steve Brown