Iowa Mortgage Activity Home Sales Slow in December

The Iowa housing market continued to cool in December as total sales dropped for the sixth straight month and prices flattened, the Iowa Association of Realtors reported.

According to statistics, there were 2,623 property sales recorded in December, down 7 percent from 2,840 sales a year earlier. Sales have been falling steadily since July 2006 when 3,797 closings were recorded.

The state’s median home price of $128,200 was essentially unchanged from both its November and year-earlier levels.

The steepest decline in sales among large metro areas was reported in Greater Davenport, where closed transactions were down 49 percent year-over-year to 179, and the median home price posted an impressive 18 percent gain to $129,350. This casued Iowa mortgage applicants to stay away.

• Sales in Waterloo-Cedar Falls fell 5 percent during the period to 162, while the area’s median home price jumped 16 percent to $114,000.

• In Cedar Rapids, where closed transactions were down 1.5 percent year-over-year to 318, the median home price sank 1 percent to $126,325.

The only large market to show growth in both sales and mortgage loan compared to a year earlier was Greater Sioux City, where sales rose 6 percent to 161 and the median home price gained 8 percent to $108,300.

Among small markets, the Boone County area in the middle of the state reported the biggest losses overall, as sales tumbled 52 percent from a year ago to 12, and the home-price median plummeted 34 percent to $58,600.