I keep reading about the real estate bubble, but I don’t believe we have seen any evidence of this in the Iowa City area. Let’s look at the record:
In 2006 there were 2607 homes (read residential properties) sold for a total sales volume of $469,413,392. The average sale price was $180,059, houses sold after an average of 107 days on the market, and brought 96% of what they were listed for.
In 2005 the sales were 2644 homes for a total volume of $466,684,582. The average sales price was $176,507 and houses sold in an average of 103 days for 97% of what they were listed for.
This represents a 2% increase in the average sales price over 2005. Over the last 25 years, home prices have gone up an average of 6.91% per year, so we are off just a bit, but prices are still going up at reasonable levels, houses are on the market for reasonable time periods, and sellers are receiving most of what they are asking for.
This is good news. I read the paper too, and was nervous about the prospects for 2006. The facts bear out that our market is on sound footing and although not immune from national real estate trends, we are at least insulated from them.