The Northwest Indiana housing market was more of the same in April; rising prices and falling sales.
“It’s pretty much the exact same,” Peter Novak Jr., chief executive officer of the Greater Northwest Indiana Association of Realtors, said of the latest housing report compared to previous year-over-year monthly numbers over the past year.
“The market is very much shaping up to be what we’re seeing nationally. We’re seeing negative changes in the number of units sold and positive changes to the median selling prices,” he said.
Novak again cited a lack of inventory, not a lack of demand, as the reason for falling sales. He said some potential home buyers are probably not finding the house they want.
“I don’t know that demand is slowing down,” he said.
According to GNIAR’s report, the number of housing units sold in Lake County dropped 5.7% in April compared to the same month the previous year, while the median sales price inched up 1.5% in the same period. There were 499 houses sold at a median price of $160,900 this past April, compared to 529 houses at a median price of $158,500 in April 2018.
As of the end of April, there were 1,586 houses sold in Lake County at a median cost of $160,000, a 5% decline from the 1,670 houses sold the previous April and a 4.4% increase from the $153,250 median price tag.
The swing in Porter County was much more substantial, Novak said.
According to GNIAR, 195 houses were sold in Porter County in April at a median price tag of $215.000, reflecting a 15.2% slide from the 230 houses sold the previous April and a 15.9% jump from the $185,500 media sales price.
As of the end of April, a total of 603 houses were sold in Porter County at a median sales price of $214,000. This reflects a 9.3% drop from the 665 houses sold the previous April and a 15.7% climb from the median price of $185,500.
In the seven counties covered by GNIAR--Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton, Starke, Jasper and Pulaski — 863 houses were sold in April at a median sales price of $168,000. There were 932 houses sold in the seven counties together in April 2018, a 7.4% decline, at a median sales price of $160,000, a 5% jump.
In the first four months of the year, a total of 2,713 houses were sold in the seven counties together at a median price of $165,900, which is 6.3% lower than the 2,894 houses sold during the same time period in 2018 and 5.8% higher than the previous median sales price of $156,775.
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