The latest figures for sales in the Peoria area came out yesterday. Overall, sales were up +14.3 % Closed Sales (over same period last year)
+ 4.6 % Increase in Median Sale price (over same period last year) and – 0.8 % Inventory of Homes for Sale (over same period last year). Sure-it’s only January, but a lot of people I think were suspecting that because of economic challenges that Caterpillar announced in the 4th quarter of 2015, that the inventory, or number of homes for sale, was going to be much higher, while the number of sold homes would be lower, as well as the median sales prices.
Looking into the data a little closer, all three major counties show an increase in the number of closed sales in January. Peoria County was up 18.8%, Tazewell County was up 16.9% and Woodford County was up 40% (caveat-that was the result of 14 closings in Jan 2016 vs. 10 closings in Jan 2015). Up is up, and it all points to a positive start for the year.
Looking even a little closer yet, let’s look at some of the burbs around Peoria.
Dunlap closings were up 10% and the average sales price was up 29%. Listing price to selling price was almost the same-about 95%. Days on market was waaaaay down…70%…from 84 days to 25 days.
In Washington, closings were up 20%, average selling price was up 4%, and listing price to selling price was up a little to 96.4%. Days on market was up a bit as well, 28%, from 56 days to 72 days. Their inventory of homes getting listed was down as well a little, about 21%, or 37 homes down to 29 homes for the month of January only.
Morton had an increase of 80% (9 closings compared to 5 closing in Jan 2015) and their inventory is also down 28% from 21 homes listed last January to 15 homes listed this January.
Metamora had an increase of 25% in the closings department, which was actually 5 closings compared to 4 closing in Jan 2015.
Germantown Hills had even sales for Jan 2015 vs. Jan 2016.
The city of Peoria itself, the largest contributor to the data, had an increase of 1.3% in the number of homes listed in Jan 2016 (156), an increase in closings of 15.5%, a decrease of 4.8% in the average sold price ($121K), and a slight decrease in the number of days on market…down 4.3%.
So across the board, January 2016 is showing a bullish entry for the year. This flies contrary to what many were thinking the case might be. Overall, a 5-6 month supply of homes is considered a balanced market. What this means, is that if no other homes were listed today, at the current rate of sales, it would take 5-6 months to sell off all of the homes for sale currently. A higher number is in favor of buyers…a lower number is in favor of sellers. January 2015 we had a 5.6 month supply of homes. January 2016 we have a decrease of 7.1%, to 5.2 month supply. The average over the last 12 months was 6.1.
To see a complete report on the data referenced above, click on this link.
