The housing market is doing better, and Huntington County is seeing the effects.
A press release from the Indiana Association of REALTORS states that June 2013 has been the strongest June for real estate since 2007.
“Indiana’s housing markets are well down the path to recovery, last month contributing to some of the best statewide numbers in six years,” Kevin Kirkpatrick, 2013 president of the Indiana Association of REALTORS, said in the release. “Now is definitely the time to enter the marketplace. Buyers have low interest rates on their side and sellers have high demand on their side.”
The local housing market reflected the state-wide market, according to local realtors.
“June was pretty good, we had a big pick up there for a little while, it’s dropped a little bit now but it did pick up considerably,” Donna VanBuskirk, a realtor with Real Living Ness Brothers Real Estate, said.
She was unsure of the exact cause of the increase, though thought it could have to do with more houses available and interest rates holding steady.
“A lot of places raise their rent during the summer to start the next year and it’s so much cheaper to buy, even with taxes and insurance included, than it is to ever pay rent,” VanBuskirk said. “Rent is just awful right now.”
The overall market is improving, she added.
“We see a little more activity, we’re getting a lot more calls that we did,” VanBuskirk said.
With interest rates holding at the moment, now is the time to buy, she added.
As good a month as June was, July is looking much better, Brenda Wintrode, broker and owner of Century 21, said.
“We’ve had more closing (in July) and we’re not done yet,” she said. “We’ve been very busy the last few months.”
The reason for this, she said, is that the times and job market both seem to be getting better.
“We have a lot of problems yet I think to get solved but the housing market is definitely better,” Wintrode said. “I’ve even heard some rumblings of new builds, which is really a good sign.”
New builds are good, she added, because the cost was so expensive and it was less money to simply buy an existing home. However, prices are coming up slightly on existing homes which is making it feasible to build a new home.