House sales up, association says

Sales of houses in Iowa were up again in January, reports the Iowa Association of Realtors.

The IAR's January 2012 Housing Trends Report indicates the number of home sales across the state increased by 9.3 percent from last year. The report shows that a total of 1,618 homes sold/closed in January 2012, and 1,481 homes sold/closed in January 2011.

Prices did not show much change. The median sale price in January was down just 0.9% from last year. The median sale price in January 2012 was 109,000, and the median sale price in January 2011 was $110,000.

The statewide inventory at the end of the month was 18,924. A total of 4,172 new active residential listings came on the market in January, which is nearly twice as many as in December 2011.

The average days on the market was 117 days, down four days or 3.3 percent from last January. Twenty-three of Iowa's 44 local boards reported increases in number of sales last month, and 24 boards had increases in median sale price from last January.

In addition, 25 boards showed a decrease in the average number of days on the market.

"This is a strong start to the new year," says Dale Gross, president of the Iowa Association of Realtors. "January is the seventh month in a row that we've seen an increase in the number of homes sold.

The upturn started in July 2011. Since then we have seen varying levels of increased sales activity each month, when comparing each month to the same month in the previous year."

Gross reminds Iowans that real estate is local. "IAR's Housing Trends Report shows statewide averages in sales and prices, but there are parts of the state that have had bigger and smaller changes in the various areas we track. We always encourage buyers and sellers to contact a local Realtor for more community specific information," says Gross.

The information used to create the IAR January 2012 Housing Trends Report was current as of February 13 at 4:30 p.m. The information is subject to change due to the dynamic nature of the IAR's housing statistics system, which is updated hourly based on information present in local participating MLS (multiple listing service) systems.