ELKHART — Ten-year highs in home sales and lows in home listings continue to drive up sale prices in Elkhart County.
The average sale price of a home in 2016 was nearly $151,500, an increase of about $13,000 over 2015 and part of a steady rise from a post-recession low of $98,000 in 2009 and 2010, according to data from Multiple Listing Service of Elkhart County.
The number of days a house spent on the market shrank to an average of just 55 in 2016, a shorter period than in any year in over a decade. Homeowners are also getting much closer to their asking price, at nearly 97 percent in 2016.
Tom Canarecci, president of the Elkhart County Board of Realtors, attributes rising home prices to a drop in new home listings -- 2,672 last year, the second lowest since 2003 -- and growth in sales, which at 2,240 last year, was the highest since 2006.
"The difficulty now with the housing market is the lack of inventory," he said. "If I was to classify it, I'd say it's a seller's market, rather than a buyer's market."
Elkhart and Goshen still aren't the hottest real estate markets in Indiana — he said Fort Wayne and Indianapolis remain at the top of the list — but in terms of increased sale prices and days on the market, the county is outpacing its surrounding neighbors.
Statewide, data shows an 8.1 percent rise in the number of home sale contracts signed from 2015 to 2016, with 86,455 single-family homes sold last year.