10/17/2008

Storm Lake and Local Area Housing Market Report - January through July 2008


Everyone is asking, how's the real estate market and without looking at the actual numbers I know we are down but not suffering in this immediate area. I was actually surprised at how much we are down not just in price but also in number of homes selling.

The Iowa Association of REALTORS publishes the monthly statistics on their site. The following numbers are reported by the individual Boards of Realtors, in our instance that is is United Counties Board of Realtors.

January 2008 - Median Price $52,000 down from $85,500 in 2007
Number sold 13, up from 12 in 2007

February 2008 - Median Price $72,500 down from $88,000 in 2007
Number sold 22, up from 16 in 2007

March 2008 - Median Price $78,500 up from $77,500 in 2007
Number sold 9, way down from 25 in 2007

April 2008 - Median Price $78,000 down from $83,000 in 2007
Number sold 3, again down from 5 in 2007

May 2008 - Median Price $55,000 down from 87,000 in 2007
Number sold 19, down from 23 in 2007

June 2008 - Median Price $90,000 up from $89,000 in 2007
Number sold 19, down from 25 in 2007

July 2008 - Median Price $85,000 down from $91,500 in 2007
Number sold 21, up from 11 in 2007

The real estate market in our area, just like all over the US is trending down. I believe that can be attributed to 2 major factors: the first is insecurity making major financial commitments due to the instability in the economy and the second it the whiplash effect we are experiencing from all the poor loan practices over the last 3-5 years. Banks are requiring a very good credit score and a down payment. Many Americans have neither, so they have no choice but to continue to rent. There is a bright side to all markets, regardless of whether they are up or down. In this one the silver lining is for the people who own rental properties.

Hopefully, this long needed correction in loaning practices will serve as a wake up call for all of us to SAVE, read the fine print, live under our means and learn to wait for some things.


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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi
YOur bolg is very nice. I have really learnt a lot from this blog thanks