Cooper: Indiana housing market ‘robust’ amid high prices, low inventory
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowDespite lower inventory and higher prices, there is some positive news when it comes Indiana’s housing market, according to one expert.
Compass Indiana Founding Partner Greg Cooper says there is no need to worry about a repeat of the housing crisis in 2008.
“We have not enough supply for still a lot of people who want to buy homes for the very significant reasons of equity growth, tax benefits and things of that nature,” Cooper said.
Cooper told Around INdiana Reporter Mary-Rachel Redman that the state’s housing market remains solid, even though the housing supply may not increase any time soon.
“In the top 50 to 75 housing markets who have had value changes in 2023, we are in the best shape of virtually any of those markets,” he said. “We have not seen a decrease in value. We have seen a plateauing in some situations, and other houses are still rolling off the market and into somebody’s sold column in a quick hurry. So the bottom line is we are incredibly robust. We have a limited supply. Demand is still there, [which] means values are still inching up.”
Cooper says home mortgage rates are still driving the market. They’ve hit over 8% at times, but have slid back a bit, he said.
“Where they fall as we start the new year and move into the year will be a huge factor in the housing market,” said Cooper.
Available inventory is the other key aspect to Indiana’s housing market. He said available homes have been sparse, and it’s not going to get much better heading into the new year, largely due to a rising number of first-time homebuyers who aren’t contributing inventory into the market.
“They buy homes, [but] they don’t have homes to sell,” he said. “First-time homebuyers are driving the market. They have probably, like no other time in our history, recognized how much money they can make by owning a piece of real estate. Their equity has gone up. The value of the homes that people have bought have gone up. So people are being driven into the market, And they’re not selling properties if they’re first time homebuyers.”
However, despite sky high prices and interest rates, Cooper said buying a house right now is still financially beneficial.
“It’s true that home prices are not what they were two and three years ago, but they’re also not what they’re going to be two and three years from now,” he said. “We are going to continue–because of low supply and high demand–to have an incredibly robust housing market in Indiana. You think it’s busy now? Wait until the rates go down just a little bit, if in fact that happens, and tens of thousands of people who are on the sideline are going to get into the homebuying game and make it less affordable.”
Cooper says the time is now for people to look into buying a home, and sellers could get the biggest bang for their buck if they sell from now through May.