Selling Dallas tech millionaire Matt Rutledge’s Plano estate was an exercise in understanding the Metroplex’s shifting housing market.
Ryan Streiff, who had the listing, priced high and opted to forgo an off-market transaction. The home sold after two days on the market and set a record in Collin County, fetching $15.9 million at closing ($1,289 per square foot).
Streiff leads the Perry Miller Streiff group with Ebby Halliday Companies subsidiary Dave Perry Miller Real Estate. He landed in the No. 14 spot in the ranking, bringing in $161.78 million in sales volume. For the Plano home, he correctly anticipated a buyer coming from nearby.
The sale didn’t just set a record; it signaled a new narrative for Dallas luxury demand.
While agents in Park Cities and Preston Hollow typically dominate the eight-digit price range, ultra-wealthy buyers are increasingly looking north to the suburbs’ high-end enclaves, seeking land, privacy and proximity to booming corporate campuses along the Dallas North Tollway.
“There’s no question that the wealth migration has gone north,” Streiff said.
Home buyers have more options now than a year ago, and more leverage. Where once splashy off-market deals and Park Cities networking were the name of the game, today’s market rewards agents who know how to navigate the evolving suburban demand.
“It’s kind of back to the basics of ‘price it right, prepare the house for market,’” Streiff said.
“On the porch of a buyer’s market”
Home inventory has surged across Dallas-Fort Worth, giving buyers more room to negotiate and forcing agents to rethink how they position listings.
In April, there were more than 32,800 active listings across the metroplex, a 39.5 percent increase from the year before, according to Texas A&M University’s Texas Real Estate Research Center. That’s up from 27,000 in March, pushing the market’s total inventory to 4.3 months in April.
Meanwhile, homes are sitting for longer and selling for less. The median days to sell was 88 in April, up 10 percent year-over-year, while 66 percent of homes sold below their original list price in March, according to a separate report from local brokerage M&D Real Estate.
The message to sellers: be flexible. The message to their agents: be sharper.
“The market has definitely turned into a buyer’s market this year, with approximately three times more homes for sale than buyers,” said Ginger Weeks of RE/MAX DFW Associates. Weeks took spot No. 13, bringing in $175.78 million in transaction volume.
Homes aren’t selling quickly and buyers are still holding out for rate drops, Weeks said. It’s pushed many of her sellers to offer concessions to stay competitive.
In May, conventional rates hovered around 6.8 percent, according to the Federal Reserve.
Weeks said she expects a minor decrease by July but that the city would need to see mortgage rates in the lower 6 and upper 5 percent range to “really get the market moving again.”
For as much as inventory has grown, sales haven’t slowed by much; April closings were down nearly 5 percent from a year ago. Prices haven’t collapsed either. The median home price dipped only slightly, to $400,000 in April, down 1.2 percent year-over-year. For homes that are turnkey, priced right and well-marketed, bidding wars can still happen. But the margin for error is much thinner than it was two years ago.
Stable pricing, brokers warn, masks a market where many sellers are still in the pandemic-era market mindset. They’re still overreaching, hoping to offset the sting of higher mortgage rates when they buy their next home. But buyers are increasingly unwilling to meet them. The result has kept pricing in check.
“Sellers still have over-expectations based on what they saw two and three years ago, and that seems to be the core problem,” said Steve Kahn of Century 21 Mike Bowman. “The sellers’ expectations are not in line with what the market is telling them.”
Kahn, who claimed the No. 4 spot on the list with $436.49 million in total transaction volume, said he’s seen more price reductions come on board in the last quarter than new cases. They’ve had cancellations to a blistering degree. People are increasingly choosing not to put their house on the market if they can’t get their price; meanwhile, the city’s “probably on the porch of a buyer’s market,” he said.
“It’s not a question of giving up. It’s a question of accepting reality,” Kahn said, calling interest rate prediction an empty path.
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Details matter
When clients grow cautious, presentation becomes everything, and Dallas’ top brokers are doubling down on core principals: strategic pricing, immaculate prep and omnichannel marketing.
Streiff said his pricing approach usually doesn’t start with comps or cost per square foot.
It starts with land value, especially for coveted neighborhoods like Highland Park and University Park.
Building pricing piece-by-piece and starting with land, he said, has helped sellers stay grounded in an unpredictable market. He describes it as “neutral,” with hot and cold pockets around the city.
When it comes to marketing, Kahn said his brokerage implemented a system starting with an aggressive web launch, pushing listings across more than 30 platforms. “Because they’re only going to pick one home,” he said. “It’s not a case where you get a medal for second. There is no silver and there is no bronze.”
Staging is no longer optional, several brokers said, but essential. With more inventory and more discerning buyers, homes that don’t look polished are getting skipped. “The stagers have never been so busy as right now,” Streiff said.
Photography, drone shots and attention to presentation are more critical. Luxury buyers are still willing to pay a premium — but mainly for homes that feel move-in ready.
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