Tucker CEO Cautiously Optimistic’ About 2019 Housing Market

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After a record-setting 2018, what does 2019 hold for the Indiana housing market? F.C. Tucker Co. Chief Executive Officer Jim Litten says it can be another banner year for housing as long as key indicators remain in positive territory. "Consumer confidence is at an all-time high and unemployment, certainly in Indiana, is very low," said Litten. "We are blessed to be in Indiana, we’ve got a pro-business environment and that bodes well for housing."

Litten talked about the 2019 housing market and potential for a “housing bubble” on this weekend’s edition of Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick.

Litten cautioned that tight inventories, which led to rising prices and bidding wars in some parts of the state in 2018, could persist this year.

However, he downplayed prospects for a housing bubble in Indiana that some are predicting in markets like Phoenix and Austin.  Litten says unlike other hot housing market, affordability remains a plus in Indiana.  “In some of these markets, the average sale price has gone up so much, and incomes haven’t gone up commensurate with the price of real estate,” said Litten, who notes only about 20 percent of California residents can afford a home, while in Indiana that number is 80 percent.