Elkhart Realtors Say RV Industry Affects Housing Market

The Elkhart County Realtors Association released the latest Housing Market reports for Elkhart County and the State of Indiana. The information charts data over a 16-year period through May 2023.

“I think what everybody would love to see is kind of a return to the center,” said realtor and board president Nic Wyse.

In order to do that, a number of things will have to happen according to the most recent market reports.

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The Indiana Regional MLS statistics released by the Elkhart County Realtors Association indicate an increase in new listings per month, doubling from 109 in January to 218 by May, but it’s normal to see an increase in homes for sale during the summer months, based on previous year’s stats. What’s different is the number of remaining active listings, which has increased by almost 100 on average this year as compared to 2022. The median price of homes has also increased by 7-10%, a trend Wyse said he expects to continue through the remainder of the year.

What’s noticeably different in the May report is that between April and May, the report indicates that a home’s days on the market have on average been cut in half, back to the average seen late last year. With May’s stats only showing 20 days on the market, the market remains very much a seller’s market, despite the fact that homes are leveling out sale-to-list percentages at 99.70% as compared to 102.92% this time last year.

“To get back to a closer 60 days on the market is probably going to be the goal for everybody,” Wyse said. “We are kind of viewing the fact of the days on the market decreasing as a good a thing as an increase indicates a pretty strong seller’s market indicator.”

In order to level out the buyer’s market and seller’s market and bring it back to center, the region needs to see an increase in the inventory of homes to sell.

“(Inventory) is certainly a little bit better than it was in years past,” Wyse said. “And we have this backlog of buyers that have been waiting for a year sometimes, two years when there was a lot of uncertainty.”

Because of the excess of buyers patiently awaiting the opportunity to purchase a new home, multiple offer situations are still common, Wyse said especially got affordable three-bedroom, two-bath homes.

In the spring, concerns about interest rates had buyers hesitant, as they compared them to the ultra-low 2.75% last year, but buyers now are observing current rates near 7% as more in line with historical rates.

Still, the demand hasn’t dropped. If anything, it’s increasing.

“With the buyer demand being as high as it is we need to see as many homes on the market as possible,” Wyse said. “The need for homes has risen dramatically as we’ve increased our workforce.”

If the demand continues, Wyse said the ideal new listings would be closer to 300 per month, a number that reflects stats from 2014 and 2015.

“Everybody probably wants a little bit of a return to normalcy,” he said. “You don’t want (your home) to sell so fast that you aren’t able to find a new home in time and end up in your parent’s basement.”

Wyse said as long as the economy stays strong, the seller’s market will remain in effect, with 7-10% annual increases in housing costs, but if summer shutdowns go longer than the norm, there’s a change in the real estate market will also decrease, and create a more centralizing market for both buyers and sellers.

For more information, visit indianarealtors.com/consumers/housing-data.

Source: https://rvbusiness.com/elkhart-realtors-say-rv-industry-affects-housing-market/