February Pending Sales Knocked by Low Inventory, Price Increases, and Rising Rates
(INDIANAPOLIS, IN) — As the industry readies for the spring homebuying season, historically-low supply may complicate paths to the closing table if you don’t have professional representation, according to the Indiana Real Estate Markets Report released by the state’s REALTORS®.
The Indiana Real Estate Markets Report obtains data from 11 of the state’s 12 Multiple Listing Services (MLSs), Including the Broker Listing Cooperative® (BLC®) in central Indiana. To date, the report represents 98 percent of the housing market statewide and 91 of 92 counties.
Statewide year-over-year comparisons (February 2018 vs. February 2017) show:
- The number of pending home sales decreased 4.6% to 6,092
- Average sales price of homes increased 8.3% to $172,052
- The number of new listings decreased 12.1% to 6,953
“Despite rising mortgage rates, buyers continue to seek and find homes,” said South Bend’s John De Souza, 2018 President of the Indiana Association of Realtors® (IAR). “Modest levels of new construction are keeping pressure on the historically-low inventory of homes, resulting in home prices growing by about 13 percent year-over-year.”