Sales of existing homes in Northwest Indiana surged in November, increasing nearly 40 percent over last November in the seven-county area represented by the Greater Northwest Indiana Association of Realtors.
A total of 889 homes were sold in Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Jasper, Newton, Starke and Pulaski counties in November, which is 39.1 percent higher than last November's 639.
The increase is partly evidence of a relatively strong year — by the end of November, 2016 sales had surpassed all of 2015 — but also due to the fact that last November's numbers were relatively low, GNIAR CEO Peter Novak said.
At this time last year, the industry was working its way through changes in sale closing rules that delayed some transactions from being finalized.
But this November did hearken back to earlier years.
"These are the type of numbers we saw in November in 2004, 2005, 2006," Novak said.
Median prices also continue to be higher year-over-year, even as sales continue to rise. The November median was $146,000 for the seven counties, up 2.8 percent as compared to the year-ago month.
"It is a seller's market from that perspective," Novak said, noting that rising prices generally price some potential purchasers out of the market.
"We don't seem to be having that problem in Northwest Indiana," he said.
Lake County saw the biggest gains among the three largest GNIAR counties, rising 39.3 percent to 507 homes sold. Porter County's 189 closings were a 32.2 percent increase, while LaPorte County saw 30.5 percent more sales with 107.
Year-to-date sales of 10,114 in the seven-county area are 10.8 percent higher than the first 11 months of 2015.
Nationally, sales were up 15.4 percent in November over a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors. November saw the most home sales of any month since February of 2007.
NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said a healthy job market and the expectation of rising mortgage rates has helped spur sales recently.
Mortgage bundler Freddie Mac reported that the average commitment rate for a 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgage was 3.77 percent in November, up from 3.47 percent in October. That's still lower than last year — the average commitment rate for all of 2015 was 3.85 percent — but the NAR expects rates to reach 4.6 percent by the end of next year.
And low inventory remains "a headwind," according to Yun.
"Existing housing supply at the beginning of the year was inadequate and is now even worse heading into 2017," he said.
Novak said inventory is short in Northwest Indiana, too. "We still have that shortage; that's a major concern," he said.
Yun said resolving the inventory issue will be key to growth in 2017.