The year-to-date median selling price of Region homes soared in August, but while the number of units sold year-to-date was mostly positive there was a small demand shortage.
“There’s still a very strong buyers market. We’re still restricted on inventory, and that’s really the only thing that’s in our mind at the moment causing any slight increase or even decrease in sales,” said Peter Novak Jr, CEO of Greater Northwest Indiana Association of Realtors.
The association tracks monthly sales and prices of existing single-family homes, condominiums, town houses and duplexes in its seven-county region — Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Jasper, Newton, Starke and Pulaski.
According to GNIAR’s report, year-over-year median sales prices jumped 16.3% in Lake County in August, from $180,550 to $209,999 and 8.3% in Porter County, from $228,613 to $247,500.
But, the report states that year-over-year units sold increased in Lake County by 7.8%, from 4,074 to 4,393, but decreased by 2% in Porter County from 1,685 to 1,651.
“If we had more inventory with the demand right now we would definitely be selling a lot more houses. We just don’t have enough to satisfy that demand at the moment,” Novak said.
All seven counties combined, the median selling price increased by 11.1% in August from $189,000 to $210,000.
From July to August, the selling price in Lake County remained the same at $230,000. In Porter County, the selling price increased by 0.8% from $263,000 to $265,000 from July to August.
But, comparing August 2020 to August 2021, the selling price in Lake County increased by 11.1%, from $207,000 to $230,000, and the selling price in Porter County increased by 6%, from $249,950 to $265,000.
In all the counties combined, median selling price from July to August increased by 2.2%. Comparing August 2020 to August 2021, the median selling price increased by 9.5%.
In Lake County, the number of units sold increased by 8.9% from July to August from 632 to 688. In Porter County, the number of units sold increased by 12.8% from July to August from 257 to 290.
When comparing August 2020 to August 2021, Porter County saw a 14.7% decrease in the number of units sold, from 340 to 290. Lake County reported a 2.8% increase in number of units sold, from 669 to 688.
Looking ahead, Novak said he doesn’t think much is going to change “in the near future.” There might be a “seasonal turn down” in the numbers as winter approaches, but the last few winter seasons haven’t seen a dramatic drop in the numbers, he said.
“Most of the economists that we’re following in the industry are predicting that much isn’t going to change over the next year or so,” Novak said. “The next couple of months you may see some variants with a particular county, but it’s just going to be a matter of timing and the number of sales that occur.”
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