By Adam Studzinski
BLOOMINGTON – After a rough 2014, the local housing market showed improvement in 2015.
Overall sales were up 5.6 percent. New construction home sales were up 15 percent by the end of the year, existing home sales jumped 5 percent.
Bloomington-Normal Association of Realtors President Amanda Wycoff said the milder winter in 2015 is a major reason for the increase in sales.
“It’s really difficult for clients to pull the trigger on buying a new home when they can’t see the roof due to a foot of snow,” she said.
Wycoff added it’s “fantastic” to see new construction sales back on track.
“When new construction is doing well it helps the local economy immensely,” Wycoff said.
Wycoff was hopeful for more improvement in 2016, but explained sometimes buyers are cautious in presidential election years.
“Some election years house hunters are more reluctant to buy because they’re not sure about how the upcoming election will affect their finances, so we’ll see what 2016 brings,” said Wycoff. “As long as these interest rates stay hovering around 4 percent I feel really good about the coming year.”
Wycoff said the average overall price of a home was up 0.9 percent, which is important to note as that tells her the Twin Cities have a stable housing environment right now.
Adam Studzinski can be reached at adam.studzinski@cumulus.com.
