The Iowa Association of Realtors report for July shows the number of home sales was almost the same compared to one year ago.
Association President John Goede says the numbers show around nine percent more homes available — but he says the overall picture on supply hasn’t changed much. “It’s kind of interesting what happens on that inventory. As compared to July of last year we are up — but when you take the year-to-date for the last three years here — we are stable to a little less. In fact some markets say they have a low inventory,” Goede says.
The median sales price of $175,000 was 2.3 percent higher and he says that’s in part due to inventory issues. “If you compare one month to a year ago it does look we have a lot more — but if you look over the broad picture here — we’re seeing a stable inventory in many markets and then there’s other markets which are experiencing a lower inventory, which results in lower days on the market and sometimes multiple offers,” according to Goede.
He says getting enough houses to show buyers is tough in some areas. “There’s a frenzy in some of the Iowa communities when a new home comes on because of the low inventory,” Goede says.The Fed lowered the interest rate recently, but Goede says there really wasn’t much of an impact to home sales.
“There is a loose correlation between what the fed rates and long-term interest rates — but the deal is we’ve had low rates, almost record low rates since 2012, even a little before that,” Goede says. He says the rate change didn’t have much impact on what Iowa buyers can get for their money.
“People in Iowa have one of the most affordable housing stocks in the whole nation. In fact, some people move to Iowa just because of that here,” Goede says. Goede says sales typically pick up in July and August as families are done with vacations and want to make decisions on moving before the school year starts.