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2017 On Track To Be A Record Year In Des Moines Real Estate
One thing is for certain as October arrives. The days become noticeably much shorter, leaves begin to fall and home sales in Des Moines point towards yet another record year. New listings for the third quarter are ahead by over 200 properties. Pending sales for the quarter are up by over 800 and year to date closings are 600 closed sales. So unless real estate comes to an abrupt halt, it is possible that we will end the year with close to 14,500 closed transactions which would be more than a 3% increase.
(Click Graph To Download)
I decided to overlay the number of homes sold and homes for sale as of September 30th each year back to 2009. Up until 2011, these two categories stayed fairly close. But from 2012 to date, there has been a widening. The number of sales reflect a return to a healthier economy but the low number of homes for sale is what is driving prices higher and the months of inventory to remain in a Sellers market. All indications are showing that 2017 is the year that sellers are finally beginning to re-enter the real estate market. It will be very interesting to see how this affects pricing as we move towards 2018.
This graph shows where the inventory levels actually began to rise in 2017. There was a short few days in April that we finally broke through the previous year and by mid May, homes were consistently coming on the market at a faster pace. If we break above housing levels of 2015 & 2014 by years end, 2018 could be a whole different type of real estate market.
Months of Inventory By Three Categories
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Months of Inventory by $100K Price Ranges
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Homes For Sale Inventory Approaches Last Years High
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Pending Sales Experience Surge In July
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Closed Transactions 350 Units Over Last Year
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Sellers Market Slowly Moving Towards Balanced
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~Les Sulgrove, Broker
VIA Group REALTORS
If you are interested in selling your home or purchasing a home, give me a call! I will help you determine your best strategy based on your local market data.