As news of foreclosures and the bad credit mortgage mess continues to sweep the nation, Fargo-Moorhead (N.D.) housing industry officials say the metro-area market remains stable and a good investment.
According to The Bismark Tribune, homes were off the market a little quicker in 2006 than 2005.
Even with home values rising a little more than 12 percent in the Bismarck area for 2006, single family, duplex, condo or townhouses sold an average of three to five days quicker than last year, according to data from the Bismarck Mandan Board of Realtors.
Home sales were quicker in Mandan than they were in 2005, but homes still stayed on the market longer than Bismarck; despite Mandan’s average home prices being nearly $40,000 lower than Bismarck’s, mortgage loan applicants opted for the former.
In 2006, the average price of a single family home, condo, townhouse or duplex in the Bismarck area was $164,601, which is $17,969 more than 2005. In Mandan, the average home price only rose $4,219, from $123,793 in 2005 to $128,012 in 2006, data says.
Lincoln’s prices and days on the market trumped both Bismarck and Mandan, though.
The average price for a home in Lincoln was $123,565, a 20 percent increase over 2005. Moreover, Lincoln managed to cut the amount of time homes spent on the market in half (to less than one month). First-time home buyers flooded the region.
“Lincoln’s average sale price is exactly what homeowners are looking for,”said Nancy Deichert, executive officer of the Bismarck Mandan Board of Realtors. “It’s hard to find that price in Bismarck.”
Home building was slightly up for Bismarck in 2006, with 218 permits valuing more than $38 million, total. That’s compared to 194 in 2005, totalling more than $33 million.
In the commercial retail arena, eight more permits were accepted for 2006, but the total valuation of those permits was nearly half of those in 2005.
Commercial building construction saw a huge increase, from 39 permits in 2005 to 66 permits in 2005. Total valuations:$4.3 million in 2005 to about $18.3 million in 2006.
Total permit activity for Bismarck for the year was more than $179 million, compared to approximately $154 million in 2005. That’s 1,260 permits in 2006, compared to 1,071 in 2005, according to the data.
It’s a sign demand for home mortgages in the area is picking up.