A Good Month for Home Sales in Howard County!

We didn’t set any records with the number of Howard County homes sold. In fact only 84 homes sold in August compared to 99 sales in July. But we saw the highest median and highest average ”sold” prices since 2007! 

Sold Prices in Howard County

You can see in the chart below how the median and average sold prices of all homes compare since 2006. We are still below 2006 levels, but hopefully we are seeing a trend that is going to continue. This is good news for sellers – rather than the continuous slide, prices may be on their way back up.

This really is a “double-edge” sword, though. For a buyer who has been sitting on the fence, waiting for prices to go down, they may have missed out on the best “deals”! That’s not to say there aren’t great deals out there. It’s just that bargains are a little harder to find.

Click chart for a larger view.

Houses Sold Per Month in Howard County

Even though fewer houses sold in August compared to July, we are still doing better than the firs six months of the year.

Click chart for a larger view.

Houses Sold vs House For Sale by Price Range

Before getting into this next chart, I want to once again clarify the “role” of foreclosures in Howard County. Contrary to popular opinion (and misinformation in our local paper), most house on the market are not foreclosures! In fact, foreclosures are only 13-15% of all houses on the market at anytime! And the majority of those foreclosures are priced less than $50,000.

You will notice that even though foreclosures are only 14% of the homes offered for sale, they represent 33% of all houses sold. That means 67% of the houses that sell are not foreclosures. They are homes owned by people like you and me – sellers wanting to sell their homes!

This chart will give you an idea of what has sold and what is on the market right now. This information is especially important for sellers or potential sellers. Unless you have a house priced less than $30,000, the competition is fierce! You’ll note that there are few houses in the upper price ranges (above $175,000). But there are also fewer buyers at the higher prices, so competition is stiff there, too.

Click chart for a larger view.

Sold Prices for Non-Foreclosures vs Foreclosures

As I said above, the average and median “sold” prices of all Howard County homes rose considerably in August. The median sold price in July was $65,000. The August median was $82,000! The average in July was $73,381 while the average sold price in August was $92,417!

Be sure to check out the data comparing sold prices for non-foreclosures and foreclosures.

Click chart for larger view.

As the charts show, we had some good news in August – higher sales prices. But, until all those “cheapo-repos” are cleaned out of the market and people in Kokomo feel secure in their jobs, I expect we will continue to see foreclosures selling in high numbers and their discounted pricing affecting the sales of non-foreclosure homes.

What we can do to turn this around…

• If you are a homeowner who needs to sell, price your home to sell! Don’t price it to “try it”!
• If you are a homeowner who wants to sell, price your home to sell! Or get off the market!
• If you are a buyer who wants to buy, get yourself to a lender and get pre-approved for a loan. And get yourself a REALTOR® you like and trust. Then get out there and take advantage of the cheap home prices.
• If you are an investor, buy some of those “cheapo-repos” to fix and rent. Hold on to them until the market comes back and reap your rewards!

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