A lack of houses for sale led to a surge in home prices last year across Indiana, according to a report from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.
Hoosier home prices increased by 6.6 percent from the last four months in 2016 to the last four months in 2017 due to a “dramatic imbalance between strong demand and scant supply,” according to the report released on Tuesday. It was the largest annual increase since 1991.
The local real estate market saw even bigger gains.
In Monroe County, the median sales price in May 2018 was $217,500, compared with $185,000 in May 2017. That’s an increase of $32,500 or 17.6 percent, according to the Indiana Association of Realtors.
Local Realtor Karen Pitkin said residential construction in Monroe County hasn’t kept up with the demand of buyers looking to purchase a home for less than $250,000. Existing homes listed around $200,000 often have several bidders at or above asking price, she said, with no room for negotiation for the buyer.
There is tremendous interest for housing in the $250,000 price range, Pitkin said. “There’s a lot of people who are ready to buy, who qualify for loans at good interest rates. But there’s not a lot of inventory in that price range being built in Bloomington.”
And many buyers from around the state, Pitkin said, are surprised that their $200,000 isn’t going as far as they’d like.