If you're selling a home near Trinity Mills Station this fall, you've probably already told your agent something like this: the new train district is going to help, right? A billion-dollar transit project just opened next door. Surely that shows up in the number.
Then the buyer's agent pulls comps, not renderings. And the number the appraiser cares about is what closed on your street in the last ninety days, not what's planned for the twenty-five acres down the road. That gap between the story a seller tells and the story the comps tell is the whole conversation right now in Carrollton, and it shows up twice: once in the citywide price data, and once in the specific question of whether living near a new train station is actually worth money.
The Number Everyone Quotes, and What It's Hiding
Carrollton's median home price fell 3.5% in the second quarter of 2026, landing at $420,000. Read on its own, that sounds like a market cooling off. It isn't quite that.
In the same quarter, the median price per square foot in Carrollton actually rose 1.1%, to $220.11. The reason those two numbers point in opposite directions is that the median home size sold in Q2 2026 dropped from 2,034 to 1,969 square feet. Smaller homes made up a bigger share of what closed. When that happens, the overall median falls even if the value of each square foot holds steady or firms up, which is what happened here.
Here's what that looked like in the numbers:
| Metric (Q2 2026, April–June) | Value | Year-over-year change |
|---|---|---|
| Median sale price | $420,000 | down 3.5% |
| Median price per square foot | $220.11 | up 1.1% |
| Median home size sold | 1,969 sq ft | down from 2,034 sq ft |
| Days on market | 33 days | unchanged |
| Days to close | 29 days | up 1 day |
The days-on-market line is the part worth sitting with. Thirty-three days, flat compared to Q2 2025, in a stretch when most DFW submarkets saw days on market stretch by four to fifteen days. Correctly priced Carrollton homes are still moving at the same pace they were a year ago. That's not a market losing steam. That's a market absorbing a different mix of inventory at a consistent clip.
For a seller, the practical takeaway is to stop anchoring to the citywide median and start asking what price per square foot your specific home size and finish level has actually closed at recently. A 1,700-square-foot home and a 2,600-square-foot home in the same zip code are not competing in the same lane, and the blended median will mislead you about either one.
What "Near the Train" Actually Means in the Comps
The other number people ask about in Carrollton is less about square footage and more about geography: does living near Trinity Mills Station actually raise what a home is worth?
The project itself is real and it's large. Trinity Mills sits on a 25-acre publicly owned site at the interchange of I-35E and the George Bush Turnpike, the largest publicly owned transit-oriented development site in DFW, and it functions as the transfer point between DART's Green Line and the Denton County Transportation Authority's A-train. The first residential phase, EVIVA Trinity Mills, opened with more than 430 apartments and 11,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, alongside a three-acre public green space called Esplanade Park. A six-story, 135,000-square-foot office building rounds out the first phase, and DART has described the full build-out as a decades-long effort that could eventually grow the district to roughly 300 acres.
DART's own leadership frames the project as a proof point for its broader strategy. As DART president and CEO Nadine Lee put it at the opening:
"Developments like EVIVA demonstrate exactly how we achieve the DART mission of being North Texas' first-in-mind mobility partner."
That's a fair description of the transit strategy. It is not, by itself, evidence of a resale premium. The research on transit-oriented development generally supports a modest price bump for homes within genuine walking distance of a well-used station, in a layout that's actually built for walking. Carrollton already has one example of that playing out: Old Town Carrollton, around the Downtown Carrollton DART stop, which has spent roughly a decade building out independent restaurants, retail, and a walkable street grid around the station. That's the comparison worth making, not the renderings.
Trinity Mills is a different case, at least for now. It's brand new, it's still building out its residential and retail base, and homes that are technically close to the station but sit in a car-dependent street pattern tend to see far less benefit than homes in a genuinely walkable pocket. If you're pricing a listing near the new development, the redevelopment plan is a talking point. Closed sales in your subdivision are the appraisal.
The Fine Print That Comes With the View
There's a second layer to this that sellers near Trinity Mills need to plan for, not just price around.
Homes close to active rail lines experience train noise during DART's operating hours, which run long. Station park-and-ride facilities also tend to increase commuter traffic and street parking pressure on adjacent residential blocks. Neither of these is a reason to avoid the area. Both are known conditions that Texas's Seller's Disclosure Notice requires you to disclose if they materially affect your property's livability, and a buyer is going to notice them on a second visit regardless of what the listing says.
Timing matters here too. Homes adjacent to active construction generally do better selling before disruption starts or well after it wraps up, rather than in the middle of a build cycle. If Trinity Mills' next phase breaks ground near your street, that's a scheduling question for your listing, not just a market one.
What This Means If You're Buying or Selling in Carrollton Right Now
For sellers, the two threads point to the same discipline. Price against actual closed comps in your specific subdivision and price band, not against the citywide median or the redevelopment story. If your home is smaller than the Carrollton average, don't panic at a median that's built on larger homes selling less often. Look at your per-square-foot number instead.
For buyers, treat transit access as a genuine amenity, not a guaranteed equity play. A short walk to Trinity Mills or to Old Town Carrollton's station area is worth asking about directly, including how the seller has experienced noise and parking, since that's information you're entitled to before you write an offer.
A Few Questions Worth Answering Directly
Does living near Trinity Mills Station guarantee a higher resale price? Not automatically. The pattern in comparable transit corridors, including Carrollton's own Old Town area, is a modest premium for homes within real walking distance in a walkable layout. Homes that are close to the station but sit in a car-oriented street pattern tend to see much less benefit.
What do I have to tell a buyer about train noise or parking? If train noise during DART's operating hours or parking pressure from a station's park-and-ride lot materially affects your property, that belongs on the Texas Seller's Disclosure Notice. Buyers will notice it on a second visit either way, so disclosing it up front tends to build trust rather than cost you the sale.
Does the median price drop mean Carrollton is cooling off? The Q2 2026 data says no. Days on market held flat at 33 days, price per square foot rose 1.1%, and the median decline traces to a shift toward smaller homes closing, not to buyers pulling back.
Carrollton's market right now rewards the kind of reading that goes past the first headline number, whether that number is a citywide median or a transit district's opening announcement. If you're weighing a purchase near Trinity Mills, deciding when to list a home close to the tracks, or just trying to figure out what your square footage is actually worth this quarter, Chris Holmes-Hill works these Carrollton comps every week and can walk you through what the numbers mean for your specific address. Let's connect.
