Drought across Texoma impacts on the housing market

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - Many people in the community can remember the historic drought that gripped Texoma 10 years ago.

The memory of that drought has left some concerned about how the current drought could impact the housing market.

Property experts said that in our current level of drought, Stage 1, property owners really don’t need to worry too much as long the drought doesn’t get worse.

“The moment that there’s any fear in the market, everyone thinks it’s the word everyone thinks the sky is falling, and a lot of times it’s not.” Realtor of Domain Real Estate Tyler Methvin said.

Methvin said the effects a drought can have on a home in Stage 1 are minimal.

”It makes people uneasy about the future of their property, property values, you know the condition of the home it can cause the homes to have some movement as ground contracts and expands again.” Methvin said.

Former Economic Professor for MSU Sarah Quintanar the drought won’t hurt the market short-term.

”As an economist, the perspective is really that droughts aren’t going to impact the short-term real estate market, but they can surely impact the consumer demand in the long run.”

If the drought worsens, it could eventually have a damaging impact.

“If we think about house prices in the market are based on the demand of homes so if we have a lot of homes flooding the market in terms of wanting to be sold and not a lot of buyers we could see prices fall.”

Methvin said a drought could slow down the circulation in the market, comparing it to the bottleneck effect.

”It just increases the inventory, it increases the days on the market; you just get some hesitant buyers there. People are always buying and selling it just slows down during those times.” Methvin stated.

”I think if we saw a real hard multi-year drought that’s super severe yeah you’re probably going to see property prices go down a little bit”

In 2013, Wichita Falls experienced Stage 4 drought, Methvin said Realtors in the area used techniques to ensure the industry stayed afloat at that time.

”We’re even a model for other cities and counties across the country at this point because we managed a historic drought the best that we could.”

Methvin hopes that homeowners remain calm, even if the drought worsens.

“Those things should help to make people less uneasy when we see those single-year drought periods. Yes, it’s been tough, but we’ve seen way way tougher in the past.” Methvin explained.

Methvin added that buyers and sellers in the housing market are still circulating the way they were before the drought.

He said if you are concerned about your property during this time it’s best to consult with an expert.

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