There's hope for housing despite bad November
By Chip Cutter
Indianapolis Business Journal Real Estate Weekly
23 December 2008
Homes sales in the 13-county Indianapolis market dropped nearly a third from the same month last year, according to the latest figures from the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors.
Sales slipped to 1,448 units in November compared to 2,028 in the same month one year ago, a 29 percent reduction, the group said.
The average sales price also fell 10 percent-to $128,867-from a year earlier, and the volume of sales slid 36 percent.
"I think November was full of bad news with the swings in the financial market," said John Creamer, a past president of MIBOR and a broker with Century 21 Scheetz. "I think those swings have caused people to hold off on their buying decisions."
The sales slowdown came largely as a result of the problems in the financial sector, he said. Statistics tend to lag 30 days behind news events so November reflected consumer uncertainties surrounding the $700 billion financial bailout package approved in October, he said.
But some local brokers said the November numbers were still lower than they expected.
"I was actually fairly surprised," said G.B. Landrigan, president of Landrigan & Co. Realtors. "I certainly wasn't imagining them to be 29 percent lower."
Still, both Landrigan and Creamer said there might be a glint of hope on the horizon. Both said they've seen a surge in calls in the past few weeks from potential homebuyers who are being motivated by low interest rates and values in the marketplace.
"I'm not an optimist," Landrigan said. "But I'm actually thinking we're going to have a nice little bump in the middle part of January."
Claire Belby, communications director with MIBOR, said some buyers could be sitting on the sidelines, waiting to see what happens in the economy before they purchasing a home, she said.
"Your buyers are kind of sitting back," she said. "I think our members are feeling like there's a bit of pent up demand."