Cedar Rapids homes sell for more, faster

Homes in the Cedar Rapids area sold faster and for more money this spring and early summer than during that same period a year ago.

On average, homes for sale in Cedar Rapids, Marion, Hiawatha and Robins were on the market only for 55 days from April through June, according to data from the Cedar Rapids Area Association of Realtors. That's 13 days fewer than the same time period last year and 33 days less than in the second quarter of 2013.

'Homes that are on the market in good condition and less than $200,000 and priced correctly are staying on an average of three days,” Barry Frink, broker-manager with Iowa Realty in Marion, said.

Meanwhile, prospective buyers likely would have paid more for a house than previous years. The median sale price in the second quarter was $148,000, about 2.6 percent higher than last year.

Average home prices also jumped, increasing 4.3 percent to about $177,500.

Frink said prospective buyers are faced with having to make quicker decisions due to the quick pace.

'The decision making process has been completely cut,” he said. 'Anybody that is one of the slow-moving, slow-thinking people, when they find a house that they like, if they truly wait and want to think about it, it's gone.”

Even so, fewer homes were sold in the metro than last year. CRAAR reported 1,013 houses were sold in the second quarter, compared to the same period last year when 1,045 were sold.

The April through June numbers follow a trend in Iowa and nationally as low housing inventory pushed up prices.

'Buyer interest is solid, but there is just not enough supply to satisfy demand. Prospective buyers are being sidelined by both limited choices and home prices that are climbing too fast,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said in a statement at the end of June.

For example, there were just 688 active listings on average from April through June of this year in the Cedar Rapids area. There were an average 888 listings during the second quarter last year and an average 1,214 five years ago.

Representatives for the Iowa City Area Association of Realtors and the Iowa Association of Realtors did not immediately respond when asked for data for Iowa City and statewide home sales.

l Comments: (319) 398-8366; matthew.patane@thegazette.com