Home foreclosures in Indianapolis failed to push up total house sales in the metro area in January this year despite their attractive prices, based on a sales report released by the Indiana Association of Realtors.
Total residential sales in the eight-county metro area plunged to only 900 units, a sharp plunge of 18.4 percent from 1,103 units in January 2009. All the counties in the metro area posted drops in home sales.
Similarly, Indiana home foreclosures failed to drive up total sales despite the availability of affordable homes, but the rate of sales decrease was smaller than in the metro area. A total of 2,735 existing homes were sold statewide, a drop of 1.4 percent from the 2,774 pre-owned units sold in January 2009.
Nevertheless, despite the drop in sales, real estate professionals were encouraged by the spike in home prices statewide. According to them, the slowdown in the flow of residential property to foreclosures in January may have pushed up home prices. The sales price median for houses sold in January statewide climbed up to $89,900, marking a significant rise of 12.4 percent from the January 2009 median price.
Home foreclosures in Indianapolis also slowed in January this year and the decline may have also pushed up by almost 17 percent the median price for existing homes in the metro area to $70,000 from the January 2009 median of $60,000.
Despite the rise in the home price median in January, Indianapolis is still considered by housing analysts as among the best housing markets in the U.S. and among the best to buy a home for the family or for investment purposes. The analysts, in choosing the best cities, considered home affordability, rate of foreclosures and prospects for housing market recovery. To estimate home affordability, they calculated the percentage of homes in the metro area that are affordable to all households and individuals earning the area’s median income.
In Marion County, where Indianapolis is the county seat, total home sales declined by 19 percent. Sales in Hamilton County also dropped, falling by 21.7 percent, and sales in Hendricks County fell by 22.6 percent.
In the coming weeks and months, realtors and home sellers hope that the federal tax incentives and the still affordable prices would spark higher sales. They also hope that news items about the attractive prices of home foreclosures in Indianapolis would push up interest in homes in the metro area.
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