May 2012

By Steve Brown-Dallas Morning News

Dallas-area home prices were up for the first time in more than 18 months in a closely-watched housing survey.

Prices in Dallas rose 1.5 percent in March from a year ago in the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Index.

Dallas was one of seven U.S. markets in the monthly survey that saw year-over-year home price gains.

Nationwide prices continued to fall - down 2.6 percent from March 2011, according to Case-Shiller.

"There are now seven cities - Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Miami, Minneapolis and Phoenix - where the annual rates of change are positive," Standard & Poor's David M. Blitzer said Tuesday in the report. "This is what we need for a sustained recovery; monthly increases coupled

By Janice Rombeck & Kelsey Lynn Lester-Perry

This summer, smokers enjoying a cup of coffee or a cocktail at a restaurant outdoor patio will not legally be able to light up.

The San Jose City Council voted unanimously to extend the ban on outdoor smoking to include outdoor patios, standing in line at ATMs or movie theaters and in common outdoor areas of apartment and condo complexes. (Keep in mind that the patio outside your sliding glass door is most times considered common outdoor areas for condo owners)

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Dallas Morning News- Steve Brown

The rebound in the North Texas housing market continued in April with a double-digit percentage rise in pre-owned home sales.

Local real estate agents sold more than 6,400 single-family homes last month, 11 percent more than in April 2011, according to numbers released Tuesday from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University and North Texas Real Estate Information Systems Inc.

And median home sales prices were up 9 percent from a year earlier.

It was the 10th month in a row that home sales were higher than in the same period of the previous year.

The biggest increases in sales this year have come for homes priced at more than $150,000. Those sales increases have caused overall median prices to move