Indiana home sales dropped 14% last year; Realtors hopeful for 2024
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After a largely negative year for Indiana’s housing market, the Indiana Association of Realtors points to recovering inventory and easing mortgage rates as reasons for a better 2024.
The association points to elevated interest rates as part of why home sales and, subsequently, inventory dropped throughout the year. Home sales sunk to 76,262, a 15% year-over-year decline, and inventory totaled 90,820 new listings, which is a 12% drop from 2022.
It’s the first time in over 20 years that annual listings were under 100,000. However, the association said daily average listings began to rise toward the end of the year, sparking hope.
“Most buyers are also sellers, and we saw many homeowners put off potential moving plans to protect their lower-rate mortgage loans and avoid selling into a slowing market,” IAR President Lynn Wheeler said in a news release. “New listings fell 20% behind 2022 in the second quarter of the year – spring and early summer, when we usually see the most homes hitting the market.”
Last year’s statewide median sale price rose 4% from 2022 to $242,500. This is the lowest annual price gain since 2014.
Mortgage rates dropped from 7.8% in late October to 6.6% in late December. The Federal Reserve indicated more potential cuts to the interest rate in 2024.
“Indiana averaged less than a two month supply of residential inventory through 2023 [available listings compared to average monthly sales],” IAR CEO Mark Fisher said in the release. “For reference, five months is traditionally considered a ‘balanced’ market – Indiana is still struggling with a long-term housing shortage.”
More in-depth annual data is available here.