Real Estate update for the week of February 13th - 19th

Blue skies and warming temperatures brought out the buyers in Bloomington. Sales and accepted offers were up this past week.  Here are the numbers:

• 114 new listings
• 51 listings had accepted offers/sales contracts
• 28 listings sold

The highest priced listing that received an accepted offer this week was a limestone house in Elm Heights that was listed at $379,900. This home has been on the market since last spring and needs significant updates, but the location is superb.

The high selling house of the week was located just outside Ellettsville and sold for $276,200.  This elegant two story home was listed for $290,000 and offered five bedrooms and four full baths. Listed since last July, this home started at $325,000.  The best values can often be found in the Ellettsville area, though they can take quite a long time to sell.

Have a great week!

Weekly update for the Bloomington Real Estate Market

While I was cruising through the Caribbean Sea this past week, a great deal of activity was taking place in Bloomington.  Here are the week's numbers:

• 102 new listings on the market
• 37 listings had price changes/reductions
• 43 listings received accepted offers
• 17 listings sold

The high price sale of the week was in Sutton Place on Derby Drive. This home was listed at $319,000 and sold for $300,000.  This home was on the market for 118 days before it had an accepted offer.

The highest priced listing of the week is in Gentry East. This home is priced at $449,900 and has four bedrooms, three full baths and just over 3700 finished square feet.  Plus there is an additional 700+ square feet of unfinished space in the basement.

It was a great week sailing in the Caribbean, but it's great to be back in Bloomington!

This past week's numbers for Bloomington

As we wrap up the month of January, the real estate market continues to be very active.  Mild weather, great interest rates and a good inventory of homes is creating a healthy environment. 

There were fewer new listings this week caused by the fact that some many home owners focused on getting their houses on the market bright and early this month.

Here are the week's numbers:

• 80 new listings (there were 29 properties withdrawn, so we're most likely looking at 51 +/- actual new listings
• 30 properties sold
• 31 properties received accepted offers
• 42 properties had price reductions.  (many of these will be home owners who are trying to make their house more appealing to buyers with the new year...a good idea.)

The high selling house of the week sold for $270,000. This house in Hyde Park was listed for $300,000.

What happened this week in Bloomington's real esate market?

The real estate market here in Bloomington is in full bloom.  Here are some of the numbers for this week's activity in Bloomington and the surrounding areas:

1. 120 new listings!
2. 55 listings had price changes (reductions is a more accurate term)
3. 38 listings were withdrawn (most of these withdrawn listings will have been pulled from the MLS system by the listing agent and then re-entered so that the listing has the current year's MLS number...good marketing)
4. 23 properties sold
5. 29 properties went pending

All this is great news for Bloomington.  Since the norm in this market is for it to take about 30 days for a house sale to close from the time an offer is accepted, these numbers show that 30+/- contracts were written and accepted in this area during the middle of December which is a typically quiet month for real estate.


And new listings are coming on the market every day.  Keep checking back for more information or click the like button at on my facebook business page and follow all the trends in this market.

2011 Market Report for Bloomington Indiana Sales 2011

Overall, the sales market in Bloomington continued to be strong during the 2011 calendar year. Here are some number based on sales of homes in Bloomington:

• Total homes sold: 897
• Average days on the market: 89
• Top selling priced bracket: $120,000 to $139,999
• Second top selling price bracket: $140,000 to $159,999
• The greatest number of homes sold in 30 days or less

How does that compare to 2010?  Here are the 2010 numbers:

• Total homes sold: 861
• Average days on the market: 74
• Top selling price bracket: Same as 2011
• The greatest number of homes sold in under 30 days as well.

Jumping back to the hot real estate market of 2007, here are the number:

• Total homes sold: 1240
• Average days on the market: 112
• Top selling price bracket: same as both 2010 and 2012
• The greatest number of homes sold in 31 to 60 days on the market.

Bloomington Home Sales for January 2011

And the numbers are in for Bloomington home sales for January. These figures are from the Bloomington Board of Realtors MLS system and are all residential sales in Bloomington for the month of January.

• A total of 60 homes/condos sold during the month
• Average sales price was $162,624
• Median days on the market was 88 (good)
• Homes sold for an average of 96% of their list price
• The most active price range for sales was $140,000 to $159,999
• The second most active price range was $160,000 to $179,000
• The third most active price range was $100,000 to $119,000

Here's how these numbers compare to January 2010:

• Total number of sales increased 11.11%
• Average sales price is down 6%
• Median days on the market is up 27%

More homes sold in 2011 but they had to work a little harder to get the job done. One has to keep in mind that the $8000 tax credit was in effect during January of 2010 which altered the standard real estate market.

From an article in Realtor Mag, the online magazine for Realtors from the National Association of Realtors, these ten cities are showing the greatest signs of continuing a declining trend in home values:

1. Atlantic City/Hammonton, NJ
2. Provo, UT
3. Portland/Vancouver, OR
4. Glen Falls, NY (home to Rachael Ray)
5. Bellingham, WA
6. Flagstaff, AZ
7. Charleston/Sommerfield, SC
8. Eugene/Springfield, OR
9. Salisbury, MD
10. Salt Lake City, UT

These figures were compiled by Forbes.

August Condo and Townhouse Sales for Bloomington

The students have moved back into Bloomington and Bloomington residents are back from their vacations. Life is bustling all over town. The b-line trail, pictured at left, is full of activity with walkers and bikers and runners. How many of these folks bought a condo or townhouse in August? 33

The condo market is not as active in Bloomington as the single family home market, but as with yesterday's posting, we are seeing a constant upward movement in our market from the same period last year in regard to the number of sales.

So here are the numbers for August sales of condos and townhouses in Bloomington:

• Total sales: 33
• Average sales price: $116.012
• Average price per square foot: $87
• Average days on the market: 197
• Average list price to sales price ratio: 93%

In my opinion, Bloomington needs more affordable condos for retirees, graduate students and young professionals who want to stay in Bloomington and become home owners. The current Bloomington condo market consists of mostly rentals geared toward students. I would really like to see some smart new growth to offer home ownership opportunities to a larger section of the population.

How can this be done? By building condos near shopping areas and mass transit. The condos should have a modern and open floor plan and offer single level living for those who find stairs challenging. Attractive two story buildings that fit into the landscape could be built and offered at an affordable price so that the benefits of home ownership are more widely available.

With Bloomington's push to attract retires along with Bloomington's hope to retain young professionals after graduation from IU and Ivy Tech, we should offer a different type of housing option than we are currently seeing in our community.

The Numbers Are Coming in For August Sales in Bloomington

The numbers may not be totally complete since this is only the first of September and there will have been many closings yesterday in the Bloomington area that have not been inputted to MLS, but here are some preliminary numbers. This is for single family homes in Bloomington sold during the month of August:

• 102 sales
• Average price: $205,275
• Average days on the market: 105
• Average price per square foot: $95
• List price to sales price ratio: 96%

These are some healthy numbers. For the same period in 2008, there were 103 sales, and keep in mind that there will be additional entries uploaded into our system today and tomorrow. Average sales price is up 6.2% from August of 2008 as well. And even the average days on the market is down from 116 in 2008 to 105 this year.

So as the national housing economy continues to shows wonderful signs of recovery (new housing sales were up in August across the country), our local market is moving from its normal healthy status to actually becoming quite strong. More numbers will be coming over the next few days here on the b-town Report.

The New York Times Reports "Housing Perks Up"

According to an article in The New York Times, housing prices in nearly all of the major markets in the country rose in June. Home prices in San Fransisco rose 3.8% while home prices in Boston increased 2.6%.

In the Midwest, Cleveland saw an increase of 4.2% during June. How did Bloomington fare compared to the national market?

Keeping in mind that Bloomington has not seen prices decrease during this troubled time in the national market, Bloomington is doing well. The average home price decreased from May to June by 1.4%. But the number of home sales increased by a whopping 12.3%!

The increase in the number of sales and the decrease of the average sales price is directly related to the $8000 First-time-home-buyers tax incentive. More people are buying their first home and because these are first time home buyers, the average sales price will typically be less than for people who are buying their second or third home.

Another thing to keep in mind is that on the national market, home prices were showing great declines in home prices because of the vast number of foreclosures that were hitting the market. Though there are certainly foreclosures available for purchase in Bloomington, they account for only a small percentage of sales.

The verdict: the national housing market seems to have hit bottom and is bouncing back and Bloomington continues to have a healthy housing market. However, as home prices increase nationally, we will see an increase in home prices here in town, so the best deals are most likely happening right now.

Pending Transactions in Bloomington..Here Are The Numbers

As the masses of IU students return to Bloomington, some will be closing on new homes to live in during their time in Bloomington. Currently there are 129 Pending transactions for single family homes in Bloomington. Here are the numbers for these houses:

• Average list price: $210,610
• Highest list price: $1,300,000 (I'm guessing not a student...)
• Average number of bedrooms: 3
• Average number of baths: 2
• Average price per square foot: $99
• Average days on the market: 122

This last number, average days on the market, is an important one to keep track of. Currently it is taking an average of four months for a property to sell. Ideally that number should be 60 days for a truly healthy housing market where there is a balance between a buyer's market and a seller's market.

Market Information from the Bloomington Board of Realtors

As of this month, the largest 'back log' of housing inventory priced under $375,000 is in the homes priced from $175,000 to $199,999. As of August 3rd, there was a 12.8 month inventory of homes in this price range. This means that with standard market conditions, it will take 12.8 months to sell these houses.

Homes priced between $350,000 and $374,999 have only a 5.4 month inventory, one of the lowest for the current market.

If we look at homes priced over $600,000, there is a 73.2 month inventory currently available. So yes, if market conditions are typical it will take over six years for all of these houses to sell. Bloomington has a very strong real estate market but it does not excel in high priced home sales. So far for 2009 there have been a total of ten homes sold that were priced over $600,000 in our MLS area.

July Real Estate Sales for Bloomington - Condos and Townhouses

Unlike single family home sales for July, the numbers are up for last month's sales over the same time period in 2008. The total sales for the month in '09 are 38, up 18% from July of last year. Here are this July's numbers:

• Total sales: 38
• Average sales price: $124,107
• Average days on the market: 177
• Average price per square foot: $81
• Average square feet: 1529

The sales prices of these condos/town homes are also up. Comparing July '09 to July '08, the average sales price saw an increase of over 8%.

July Real Estate Sales for Bloomington - Single Family Homes

For the month of July in Bloomington, there were 127 single family home sales. The number of sales is down 11.8 % from 2008. The Average selling price also saw a decrease of 8% from the same time period in 2008. Here are the numbers for single family home sales for July 2009 in Bloomington:

• Average sales price: $175,368
• Average list price: $185,926
• Average day on the market: 103
• Average price per square foot: $93
• Percentage of sales price to list price: 94%

To look at the larger picture, home prices are up so far in 2009 from last year. The average selling price for single family homes in Bloomington for the first 7 months of this year was $191.962. The average selling price for the same period in 2008 was $187,386. This shows an increase in the average home price of 2.5% in the past 12 months.

Monroe County Real Estate Market Statistics

In 1910, Monroe County was considered the center of the US population. There are over 120,000 residents living in Monroe County, which includes Bloomington and Ellettsville. Bloomington certainly is the driving force of the county's real estate market, but here's a look at the market county wide:

• 20.3% of homes on the market have accepted offers (pending)
• The greatest number of pending sales are in the price range of $125,000 to $149,999
• The second greatest number of pending transactions are for homes price from $100,000 to $124,999
• There are currently 52 homes available priced over $600,000
• There is currently one pending transaction for a home over $600,000
• There are currently 688 available listings in Monroe County

The above information is from the Bloomington Board of Realtors MLS for all of Monroe County and does not include condo sales.

Bloomington Home Sales for the First Half of July

The numbers are in for the first half of July. A total of 42 single family homes sold in Bloomington. Here are the numbers:

• Average list price: $183,967
• Average sales price: $174,137
• Average day on the market: 103
• Average price per square foot: $94

These 42 homes sold for 95% of their list price.

Active Single Family Homes in Bloomington Right Now!

As of today, the Bloomington real estate market has 592 active listings for single family homes. With the exception of a listing at $7,999,000, most homes are in the mid $200,000's. Keep in mind that the numbers for averages may be skewed due to the above mentioned house. The house pictured is a great home in Hoosier Acres on over an acre with a pond priced at $499,900. Check out the stats:

• More to come on the new highest priced listing at $7,999K
• The least expensive home: $30,000
• The average home list price: $304,368
• The average size of homes on the market: 2508 square feet
• The average days on the market: 109
• The average list price per square foot: $113

Condo Sales in Bloomington for the Month of June

With Indiana University students moving back to Bloomington for the 2009-2010 school year, along with new professors, we'll be seeing condo sales on the rise. for the month of June, which is too early to reflect the incoming IU folks, there were 31 sales. These figures include sales of condos and PUDs (townhouses, paired homes and free standing units in paired home communities).

Here are the numbers for June 2009:

• Average sales price: $116,945
• Highest sales price: $322,000
• Lowest sales price: $51,000
• Average days on the market: 146
• Average finished square feet: 1346
• Average number of beds/baths: 2 bedrooms and 2 baths

Bloomington Residential Sales for the month of June

The numbers are in for June residential real estate sales for Bloomington. Consistently we are seeing fewer sales than in 2008 but an increase in the average sales price. For the month of June, the margin was smaller for the number of sales from the previous year. Here are some of the numbers:

• 2008 total residential sales for Bloomington: 163
• 2009 total residential sales for Bloomington: 158
• 2008 average sales price: $178,519
• 2009 average sales price: $180,224
• 2008 average days on the market: 108
• 2009 average days on the market: 137

To compare the month of June to last year's market, prices are up 1% and it is taking one extra month to sell the average house. More numbers to come in the next few days.

National Home Value Rankings by Median Sale Price for June 2009

In an article in the New York Times last week, they said that the value on homes in the markets that they followed showed that was still falling. Of course it depends on the markets that you follow.

www.eppraisal.com followed 186 markets and they found that more than half the markets that they followed showed an increase in home value. Follow this link to see the complete information on these markets:

http://www.eppraisal.com/nationalmsa.aspx

The chart in the link above shows the city's name, median sales price and the percentage of change in value. While many cities in Ohio saw a dramatic increase, Rachael Ray's hometown of Glens Falls NY saw a decrease as did Matthew Cole's home town of Raleigh NC.