My personal and not at all objective experience of the South Bend Area’s housing market is that it is becoming more active, but buyers are still looking for about a 10% discount from asking price. However the number of closed sales hasn’t increased correspondingly. Though the number of sales is inching upwards, the pool of available listings continues to grow slightly. One notable exception is condominiums, which sold at a much faster rate than houses or villas. This can probably be attributed to students and football fans preparing for Notre Dame’s coming school year / season. Here are the numbers:
Houses Listed as of 7/31: 2,371
Houses Sold 7/1 – 7/31: 373
Low price sale: $5,000
High price sale: $930,000
About 16% of listed houses sold this month.
Townhouses/Condos Listed as of 7/31: 63
Townhouses/Condos Sold 7/1 – 7/31: 16
Low price sale: $78,000
High price sale: $318,890
About 25% of listed townhomes/condos sold this month.
Villas Listed as of 7/31: 56
Villas Sold 7/1 – 7/31: 8
Low sales price: $117,000
High sales price: $426,473
About 14% of listed villas sold this month.
Compared to 2005 and 2006, unit sales reported through the MLS are still down 22% for the year. The July numbers were hopeful, but it may be that the sharp reduction in June was carried over some sales into July which made July look better since June was awful when compared to 2005 and 2006. I think we’ll have to wait for the August and September numbers to really see if the market is picking back up. I continue to believe that the first half of 2008 will be a buyer’s market with that probably continuing through the rest of 2008. Without an interest rate cut, inventories will continue to be high.