Realtors look with confidence to next year's housing sales

Andrew Harp, The Evening News and the Tribune, Jeffersonville, Ind.
·4 min read

Dec. 30—SOUTHERN INDIANA — Realtors in the Southern Indiana area say the past few years have been busy as more homes are built and they are confident of the local market's health despite the steady rise of interest rates since 2022.

Paul Kiger is a real estate agent of residential and commercial properties for REMAX Advantage and REMAX Properties East. He sells homes in Southern Indiana and Louisville and has been doing so since 2007. He is also a real estate agent of residential properties for Coldwell Banker California in Los Angeles.

Kiger said the housing market in Southern Indiana in 2023 essentially had "no rhyme or reason" to it and that the market in terms of interest rates climbed at a "fast" rate. At the local level, the fast rise followed with it slowing down and stabilizing, which is where it is now.

In 2020, the Federal Reserves interest rates fell below 1% and then remained there until March 2022, when they began to steadily increase. The Federal Reserve has now kept the rate steady between 5.25% and 5.5% since around September.

Housing market data from the Indiana Realtors Association shows that in Floyd County the median price of a single-family home, condo or townhome in November 2023 was $277,500. A year ago in November 2022, it was $241,000, a 15.1% increase.

In Clark County, the median price of a single-family home, condo or townhome in November 2023 was $270,000. A year ago in November 2022, it was $254,900, a 5.9% increase.

Kiger gave an example of selling a home in New Albany at $155,000 in 2020. Two years later, the property sold for $220,000.

According to STATS Indiana, using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, there were an estimated 90,162 households in Clark and Floyd counties in 2022.

Data from the U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey of new privately owned housing unit authorizations show an all-time high of 1,626 units in 2021 for Clark County. Even though this number dipped in 2022, the county was still No. 8 in the state.

While Kiger said buyers might be averse to purchasing homes currently because of high interest rates, from his perspective buyers were essentially buying homes over their market price when interest rates were lower a few years ago.

He said the person who purchases a home with the highest interest rate will probably benefit in the end because they are purchasing at market value with more seller/builder concessions. They also have the option to refinance if or when interest rates go down.

Stephannie Wilson has been a realtor in Southern Indiana for 19 years, and has licenses in Indiana and Kentucky. She works for Schuler Bauer and represents homebuilder Schuler Homes.

She said Schuler Homes has five active subdivisions in development in the area and "several more coming." From her perspective, she said homebuilding in the region is at a high.

"I think all builders would say that it's definitely very busy," she said.

Wilson said the beginning of the year was particularly busy, although not as busy as 2022, in terms of building and selling homes. Since the rates have remained steady in September, the activity slowed down.

Still, Wilson foresees that the rates will drop and feels optimistic that the housing market will be "very strong" going into 2024.

Kiger said the first quarter of 2024 is probably the best time to buy a home. He said because of the high interest rates, buyers won't be overpaying and sellers are more willing to negotiate a contract.

He said as soon as interest rates drop, more consumers are then willing to come out and purchase homes, driving the prices up. On the flip side, he also said the first quarter could be beneficial for sellers since there's less competition. Typically, he said, sellers like to list properties in the spring, but listing them earlier than that, during the first quarter or in the winter, could make them stand out.

In Southern Indiana, Kiger said the housing market is "healthy."

He said that in 2024, those involved in the local real estate business need to continue to serve the client, the community and just overall doing the right thing, and he said he's excited to continue the work.

"You gotta sell the community before you sell the house," he said.