Central Indiana Housing Market Continues Its Cold Spell

It’s not a great time to be an Indiana mortgage company - or a seller in the area, hoping to find applicants for such loans.

After all, the Central Indiana housing market cooled further in October, as home sales and prices fell from their year-ago levels, according to the latest MLS statistics from the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors.

Home sales in the nine-county region surrounding Indianapolis totaled 2,429 in October, down 8.4 percent from a year earlier when 2,651 homes were sold.

The average sales price of a home in October dipped to $150,621, a decline of 2.5 percent from $154,489 posted in October of last year. This fosters hope that home loan activity will return to the area as prices continue to fall.

Although there were 9 percent fewer listings added to the market in October compared to the same month last year, around 18,811 houses remained active on the Multiple Listing Service at month end, up 10.2 percent from the 2005 level.

This level of inventory suggests a continuation of the current buyer’s market, but the situation is likely to change if the slowdown in new listings continues to decline as it has for the last three months, MIBOR reported.