The president of the Iowa Association of Realtors is reporting 2012 was a great year for Iowa’s housing market. Don Marple says numbers were up across the board. “Sale prices were up, the median price was up, the amount of homes sold went up and they were on the market a less amount of time, which is good too,” Marple said.
There were 34,860 homes sold across the state in 2012. That’s up 12-percent from 2011 (31,114 homes sold). The median sale price in 2012 was $126,000 — up from $121,000 the previous year.
Marple credits a number of factors for the state’s improved housing market. “A better economy, great interest rates are out there right now, some programs for buyers and people are just feeling more confident with what’s going on,” Marple said.
The statewide inventory of homes at the end of December was 17,630. That’s down 18-percent from December 2011. “We’ve got about a six month supply of housing across the state of Iowa, which means it’s pretty much even keel right now,” Marple said. “We’ve got just as many buyers as sellers out there and if we start seeing that drop a little bit more below that, it’s going to become a seller’s market again.”
The Iowa Association of Realtors started keeping statewide records in 2005. Marple said 2012 sales marked the highest annual sales since 2007.