Carpenter Realtors Market Activity Report for Third Quarter 2014
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In our just-released edition of the Carpenter Report, you’ll see that the central Indiana housing market has continued its recovery from the frigid “polar vortex” of the first quarter. In the third quarter, the number of homes pended for sale increased 4.8%. That was coupled with a strong growth in the average sales price (ASP) of closed units; up 4.5% year-over-year.
At the same time and despite strong pended sales activity, the inventory of homes on the market in the year-over-year comparison continued to build, rising another 1.1% during the third quarter. This slow build-up of inventory has continued to strengthen the housing market and bring it back into a healthier balanced.
We believe the the most important factor in the continued recovery is the change in the “mix” of housing sales. The number of bank-owned and “short-sales” (distressed properties) has been reduced over the past 12 to 18 months. As these are replaced by more traditional homes, we are seeing average sales prices rise. With the reduction of distressed properties and the relatively slow recovery in new home construction, it is a great time to be thinking of selling your home and buying another property.
These continue to be very good signs for real estate and reflect a continuation of the trends we’ve been tracking over the past 21 months.
At Carpenter, we are enjoying strong performance and growing confidence about the future of housing in central Indiana. We do anticipate some occasional volatility in the market but do not see a derailment of the momentum already established.
We hope you find these quarterly editions of Carpenter Reports and the data it provides helpful in your understanding of the central Indiana housing market.
