Fall 2011 State of the Market Report

Whether you are in the market to buy or sell now, or just wanting to know what is going on in your local Real Estate market, I believe this report will help you understand what is happening in the Bloomington-Normal area. Of course this data reflects the overall market. If you would like to know more specifically about your subdivision, I encourage you to call my mobile at 309.275.9333, or call my office at 309.661.7068. Please feel free to pass my name along to anyone thinking of buying or selling a home.

Here is the latest edition to my State of the Market report. I wanted to take a few moments and fill you in on what is going on in the Bloomington area housing market:

If you recall last year, in order to qualify for the $8,000 government stimulus, you must have entered into a purchase agreement by April 30, 2010 and close by June 30, 2010. As a result, the first 6 months of 2010 were very active and consequently, the latter half was stagnant. This is where we saw a large inventory build up entering into 2011.

As of May 2011 we were 22% behind in the number of homes sold this year vs. last year. Through August, we are roughly 9% behind the 2010 pace. So we are gaining ground. I believe by the end of this year, we will see an improvement over 2010.

Another encouraging sign that the market is improving is the amount of inventory on the market. In a balanced market (meaning not a buyer or seller's market), we should have 5- 6 months of houses for sale. we currently have about 1050 homes in the Bloomington-Normal area for sale. In August we closed on 126 homes which means we have 8-9 months of inventory currently. This is a major improvement over the 12-13 months that we did have with that figure of 1050 homes on the market! I see this as a great sign that the Bloomington-Normal market is finally stabilizing.

The one negative I see in the current housing market is that new construction numbers are down. As of August this year, there were only 97 new construction permits issued vs. 140 this time last year. Sadly it was not so long ago that we were building over 500 new homes a year...ouch! Obviously with such a high volume of inventory, and at such great prices; it's hard to compete with a "deal" that you can get on an existing house.

If you are interested in more information on the Bloomington housing market, be sure to tune in to my weekly radio show called "On the House" on The Cities 92.9 FM from 8 to 8:30am on Saturday's.

Thanks for taking time to read the September 2011 edition of my State Of The Market report. If you know of anyone looking to buy or sell, please call my office at 309-661-7068.