If you don’t own a home in Tiffin it may it not be on your radar. To give you an idea of where it is and the lay of the land around here. I’m located in central Coralville. Coralville is situated between Iowa City and Tiffin. 10 minutes west on 2nd Street, (aka Coralville Strip) gets me to Tiffin. 10 minutes east and I’m in downtown Iowa City. Tiffin is a rural area with a population of about 1000 at present. Major things that Tiffin has going for it are that the Clear Creek High School and Middle School are both located there. That’s a big pull for families. Also, there is a lot of new construction in Tiffin. In fact, when I pulled the number of homes sold in Tiffin in 2011 I noticed only two of the 41 homes sold were built before 1996. In line with the stats for North Liberty, about 40% of home sales in Tiffin in 2011 were new construction.
Now for a closer look at the numbers of homes sold. 41 homes sold in Tiffin in 2011 compared to 40 in 2010. If you took those numbers at face value you’d think home sales were flat for the year. When you look at the breakdown on the chart you can see that wasn’t the case. Apparently the first time home buyer tax credit had a big impact on sales in June 2010. That “propping up” of the market disappeared in 2011 and after a slow start the second half of the year showed strong home sales in Tiffin. This is totally in line with all the areas I cover, Coralville, Iowa City and North Liberty. Just like North Liberty, the availability of affordable new construction is a big draw for home buyers. it wouldn’t surprise me to see some serious growth in the housing market in Tiffin in the next few years.
| Average Price 2011 | Average Price 2010 | Median Price 2011 | Median Price 2010 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single Family | 226,613 | 222,788 | 230,250 | 235,000 |
| Condos | 107,715 | 97,786 | 98,000 | 82,000 |
| Zero Lots | 193,000 | 168,133 | 193,000 | 172,450 |
Offering analysis on the data in the table is a little difficult. It looks like home prices are rising, but I find that hard to believe. I talk to a lot of buyers and I know they’re still putting a lot of pressure on prices looking for deals in the market place. Also, we still have more houses on the market than buyers to buy them and as I’ve said before, until that dynamic changes it doesn’t make sense for home prices to rise. That said, there’s a lot of positive data here. We can look forward to strong and steady progress in the housing market in Tiffin and the greater Iowa City area in 2012.
When you’re ready to make your move, please give me a call. I’m always happy to share information and help you figure out your options.
Source for data for this market report came from the Iowa City MLS January 5, 2011
