01:22 PM CST on Friday, February 29, 2008
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
stevebrown@dallasnews.com Homebuilders who are sick of reading about the housing downturn are hoping to attract buyers with their own message.
The Homebuilders Association of Metro Dallas has raised funding from builders, developers and financial institutions for an advertising blitz aimed at attracting buyers.
The builders’ “DFW Buy Now” campaign has begun running ads in newspapersand magazines, on billboards and in broadcast media. There’s also a Web site: www.dfwhousing facts.org.
The builders say that the marketing program will help combat negative publicity about the housing market, which is hurting their business.
The Web site advertisements including pro-housing quotes from Dallas developer Ross Perot Jr., legendary real estate agent Ebby Halliday and housing analyst Ted Wilson.
“The national press’ blanket coverage of the dire circumstances in other markets has discouraged prospective buyers from exploring the buying opportunities in our local Dallas-Fort Worth market,” Donny Mack, president of the Home Builders Association of Greater Dallas, said in a statement.
“Because the builders have cut way back on starts, once the current inventory of finished new homes is sold, prices on new construction will likely go up and this unique value purchasing opportunity will be gone,” Mr. Mack said.
North Texas homebuilders have been forced to cut their starts by almost 40 percent due to lagging sales caused in part by the mortgage market crash. The cutbacks have been even steeper in many U.S. markets.
Almost 10,000 vacant new homes are on the market in the D-FW area, and builders are offering significant sales incentives to move their surplus inventory.
The local building industry’s marketing campaign will promote the idea that North Texas’ home prices are stable, houses are affordable and sell quickly, and there is a limited inventory of finished homes available. The advertisements will also promote the “strong local economy” and current “very low interest rates.”
The National Association of Realtors has been running a similar nationwide advertising campaign, telling consumers “It’s a great time to buy a home.”
And the D-FW builders’ group says similar local marketing programs have been used in St. Louis, Atlanta, Houston and Florida.
The North Texas ad campaign will run through May, at the start of what is traditionally the prime home selling season.
Housing analysts say that one reason many consumers have delayed purchasing a house is because of fears of falling home prices. In late 2007, nationwide home prices fell by close to 9 percent – the biggest such drop on record.
However, home prices in the D-FW area have remained flat or dipped only slightly from recent peaks.
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