REALTORS® RELEASE “INDIANA REAL ESTATE MARKETS REPORT” FOR OCTOBER 2011

Activity up year-over-year by double digits; prices down slightly, but still up in year-to-date comparisons

 

(INDIANAPOLIS, IN) – According to the monthly “Indiana Real Estate Markets Report” today released by the Indiana Association of REALTORS®, activity was high in October with both the number of closed and pending home sales up by double digits year-over-year.

Statewide, when comparing October 2011 to October 2010:

• The number of closed home sales increased 16.2% to 4,892; and

• The number of pending home sales increased 13.6% to 4,422.

Prices did not follow that trend. Both the statewide median and average price of homes sold in October 2011 was less than in October 2010, but just slightly:

• The median sale price of homes decreased 1.7% to $111,000; and

• The average sale price of homes decreased 0.9% to $134,756.

“Local housing markets are making steady progress,” said Karl Berron, Chief Executive Officer. “It may not be as quickly as we’d like, but there is a lot of good news in this report.”

With regard to the slight dip in prices, Berron said REALTORS® were not concerned because year-to-date, the median sale price of homes in Indiana is actually up when compared to 2010 and 2009, and so is the average sale price.

“Home prices here in Indiana have historically held their ground,” said Berron. “It’s one of the reasons we enjoy a homeownership rate of more than seventy percent, and is certainly a positive for would-be home owners who are now shopping with some of the lowest mortgage interest rates in current memory.”

Whether market activity and value continue to grow depends upon a number of factors outside of the real estate industry’s control say REALTORS® across the state. The number one item on their list is more jobs, which drives number two and three on the group’s list – available financing for qualified buyers and less foreclosure inventory.

“Folks looking to invest should start with the sortable county tables of this report and then talk to a local REALTOR® who can give the most insight into what’s happening in a neighborhood, city or school district,” concluded Berron.

 

More about the “Indiana Real Estate Markets Report”

 

Established in May 2009 and found online under the Reports tab of www.IndianaIsHome.com, the “Indiana Real Estate Markets Report” was the first-ever county-by-county comparison of existing single-family home sales in Indiana. In March 2010, IAR added statistics on other types of existing detached single-family (DSF) home sales – condominiums, duplexes, townhomes, mobile homes, etc. – to the report.

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