Super Bowl Host Indianapolis Stepping Up Its Game In The Housing Arena
by Broderick Perkins
Like most housing markets, Indy's 13-county metro area housing market has been playing catch-up since 2006.
Fortunately, when the New England Patriots and the New York Giants roll into Lucas Oil Stadium for Superbowl XLVI on Feb. 6, Super Sunday will give the town something to celebrate.
The Super Bowl brings in a throng of football fans, creating an opportunity for the town and its housing market to get some much needed exposure.
Centrally located, in Indiana, Indianapolis is the county seat of Marion County, with a population of about 840,000. It is the most populous state capital east of the Mississippi and, as quite a sporting town, the perfect venue for the Super Bowl.
Attractions include an array of amateur and professional sporting teams and events, including the Indianapolis Colts, the Indiana Pacers and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Indy 500 and NASCAR events. Indy is also headquarters of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), USA Gymnastics, USA Diving, US Synchronized Swimming and USA Track & Field.
It's also home to several colleges serving up a heavy diet of sports, including Marian University, the University of Indianapolis, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, and Butler University.
"Indianapolis has so much to offer its residents. The economy is strong and growing. The housing is affordable and the schools are wonderful. It is a safe, clean, friendly city. We have every professional sports team, wonderful museums and parks. It is a great place to raise a family," says Janet Jernigan, an Indianapolis-area real estate agent with Platinum Realty Group, reporting to RealtyTimes.com Market Conditions.
Unfortunately, the area's housing market has been dropping back to punt every year since 2006.
Traditional seasonal swings, with sales peaking mid year, then giving way to deep sales troughs by year's end, reveal an overall downward trend, year after year, as graphically charted in the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors' (MIBOR) December 2011 Monthly Indictors report.
Metro area closed sales for 2011, 21,723, were up only 1.2 percent from a year ago, when they were 21,463, but down 8.6 percent from 23,770 in 2009.
For the month of December in 2011, closed sales were at about 1,700, up from 1,500 a year ago, when the sales market appears to have hit rock bottom. However, the 1,700 sales in December weren't much better than sales as far back in December of 2005.
The median sales price in December 2011, $121,000, was flat, up only 0.8 percent compared to the $120,000 median a year earlier.
Joyce L. Moore an associate broker with J. L. Moore Realty in Indianapolis, reporting to RealtyTimes.com Market Conditions says there are signs of improvement in the area's housing market, but they are limited.
"Reports of the housing market rebounding are still somewhat premature. We still have a long way to go before we see real progress, but there is progress. Part of the problem is that mortgages are very hard to obtain," Moore reported.
Indianapolis remains a buyers market with homes selling for only 87.3 percent of the list price in December 2011, down from 89.3 percent a year earlier, according to MIBOR.
"Buyers are in control and can afford to be very picky, however, neither the mortgage holders nor sellers are willing to 'give away' their properties. The average time for homes to be on the market is reported to be between nine to 12 months. Sellers need take this reality to heart when listing their homes and they need to make sure all of the cosmetics are taken care of before putting their home on the market, or be willing to suffer the consequences," Moore added.
Painting a rosier picture, shorter term statistics seem to belie the longer, seasonal rise-and-fall trend. From the third to fourth quarter last year, closed sales rose 11.7 percent, the median sales price was still flat rising only 0.7 percent, but inventories shrunk 8.9 percent during the quarter-to-quarter period.
"While closed sales for the year were up just 1.2 percent, the six-month review shows an 18.3 percent increase over the same period last year. As a result, inventory levels in many locales have been driven down. For the month of December, the months supply of inventory ranks in at 7.7, by far, the lowest number in over a year," MIBOR reported.
If the short term numbers continue, it could bode well for sales and prices in the coming year, especially if interest rates remain low long enough.
"Ultimately, the upcoming spring market should be a major tell about the future direction of housing. Sellers are seeing multiple-offer situations; buyers are seeing sub-4 percent loans; supply-demand trends are more balanced. That's a stable foundation and a far cry from 2009," according to the MIBOR December report.
Robert Sharpe, the Indianapolis Real Estate Examiner for Examiner.com says market conditions bearing down on the area's housing market indicate recovery will be tough.
Central Indiana has an unemployment rate hovering about 9 percent with employment growing slowly since 2009, gas price hikes weigh heavily on consumer confidence and after two years of low interest rates, they could rise.
"Unemployed people don't usually buy houses...it's easy to understand why there are so few buyers in the market," writes Sharpe.
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