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Dallas area had third-highest U.S. home price gain in March

Dallas-area home prices were 8.6 percent higher in March than a year earlier, according to Case-Shiller.

Dallas' red-hot housing market showed no sign of a slowdown in the latest national comparison.

The Dallas area had the third-largest home price increase in March, behind only Seattle and Portland, Ore., in year-over-year price gains.

Area prices rose 8.6 percent in the monthly S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index.

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The local increase was well ahead of the average nationwide jump of 5.8 percent from March 2016 levels.

"Home prices continue rising," S&P's David M. Blitzer said in the latest report. "Over the last year, analysts suggested that one factor pushing prices higher was the unusually low inventory of homes for sale.

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"People are staying in their homes longer rather than selling and trading up," he said. "While prices cannot rise indefinitely, there is no way to tell when rising prices and mortgage rates will force a slowdown in housing."

Along with Dallas' 8.6 percent annual price increase, Seattle's rose 12.3 percent and Portland's were up 9.2 percent. In Denver, prices rose 8.4 percent from a year ago.

Dallas-area home prices are at an all-time high in the Case-Shiller Index and are almost 40 percent higher than a decade ago, before the recession hit.

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North Texas home sales numbers are slightly higher this year than in the first four months of 2016. Real estate agents expect the demand for area housing will continue as long as employment growth remains strong.

"Homebuyer demand is sky-high, inventory levels are near rock-bottom and home prices keep rising," Zillow chief economist Svenja Gudell said in response to the latest Case-Shiller numbers. "These trends have been driving the market for years now, and all recent data — including today's — points to these dynamics continuing for a while to come.

"Sooner or later, these conditions will change as builders bring more inventory online, more home sellers come out of the woodwork and home price appreciation cools in the face of slowly rising mortgage interest rates," she said. "But for now and the foreseeable future, I'm not exactly holding my breath."