Time to bring some consistency into my market reports again after a hectic summer selling homes, followed by a hectic fall for me as I got all the pieces in place to start my own company. Generally my market updates start with Iowa City, the poster child of the area. This month I figure North Liberty deserves some extra attention, since that’s the area that gets the least attention when I’m busy. (There are logistical reasons for that due to how I’m able to pull data from the Iowa City MLS, but I won’t bore you with the details).
When I pulled the number of homes sold for this month in North Liberty I was surprised to see that there was no increase in home sales compared to last year. In fact the numbers are absolutely even – 19 homes sold in November 2011 and November 2010. Iowa City and Coralville both saw increases in November, hence my surprise. I’m sure this is just a glitch. I had a closing scheduled for November 30 that happened on December 1. Maybe there were a run of those. We’ll see at the end of the month!
| Average Price Nov 2011 | Average Price Nov 2010 | Median Price Nov 2011 | Median Price Nov 2010 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single Family | 222,726 | 279,589 | 230,000 | 264,900 |
| Condos | 142,900 | 119,350 | 139,900 | 114,700 |
| Zero Lots | 179,980 | 178,100 | 162,500 | 174,950 |
Just to make things interesting this month and since I missed publishing a report last month I’m including October home sales in this market update. The number of homes sold was up in North Liberty in October with 26 homes sold in October 2011 compared to 21 sold in October 2010. That’s a pretty decent 19% increase in home sales compared to last year.
| Average Price Oct 2011 | Average Price Oct 2010 | Median Price Oct 2011 | Median Price Oct 2010 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single Family | 256,275 | 271,993 | 233,450 | 245,000 |
| Condos | 111,892 | 78,768 | 120,000 | 78,767 |
| Zero Lots | 166,712 | 197,517 | 187,000 | 197,400 |
All in all home sales in the area continue to be strong. It’s good that homes are selling in North Liberty. It will be even better when the prices start to rise. At the moment the buyers are still in the drivers seat putting lots of pressure on prices. It will be interesting to see whether that changes come spring.
Housing trends in North Liberty 2nd & 3rd Quarter 2011
Source for data: Iowa City MLS December 5, 2011
