Fall Means Football!
Here in Fighting Irish territory, fall is synonymous with football. And can I just say, with last weekend’s HUGE win over USC, things are really “falling” into place!
Puns aside, fall is an exciting time not just for football but for the swelling pride of place we all have being part of the Notre Dame community.
At Irish Realty, we, too, are aligned heart and soul with our identity as home to the University of Notre Dame. Many of our clients bleed blue and gold, whether they are alumni, parents of alumni, parents of students, students themselves, faculty, staff or homegrown fans.
We’ve been excited to see this school spirit play out in our current advertising campaign, which is deployed during game weekends. When our ads are running, the number of inquiries we receive is through the roof, almost double our regular activity. We believe that the dream of living in our community is activated in a big way when rooting on our “home” team and we are thrilled to help people – near and far – become a homeowner here.
Are you looking to activate your dreams of living here? Then this blog is for you as we will now dive into key housing indicators for St Joseph County.
September sales were a bit off compared to this time last year, with 7.7% fewer sales. It’s possible the lack of inventory was holding back many would be buyers, particularly if they had a certain sweet spot they were holding out for. While inventory is down almost 15% YOY, we did see an uptick in the number of homes that came onto the market this month, compared to last September, offering a bit more choice.
Last month, we discussed the incredible value homeowners have here, especially given that we are a college town. In fact, when you compare college towns across the county, South Bend/Mishawaka is in fact the most affordable college town with a median home sales price of $185,250.
Just because it’s affordable doesn’t mean we aren’t seeing the incredible appreciation that is sweeping the country: our median sales price is up 24.3% over last year! That’s great news for homeowners looking to move up as they can leverage their increased equity position.
How do we compare to the national picture?
Nationally, sales were up 7% over August, similar to St. Joseph County. This increase in activity is often noted as the Fall Selling Season spike, when a back-to-school mentality is reflected in a modest bump in sales. Although here in Fighting Irish territory, maybe we call this spike a “Back to the Gridiron” mentality.
In the current climate of low inventory, this year’s September bump was also likely attributed to an improvement in inventory levels in the past few months – and locally, a winning football record!
Not surprisingly, the increase in sales absorbed those inventory increases, with September levels down 0.8% from August. Looking back to last year, there is 13% less inventory.
NAR’s economist Lawrence Yun is bullish on inventory levels going in 2022, as homebuilders ramp up production of new homes and mortgage forbearance programs come to an end, pushing some existing owners into foreclosure.
Nationally, there is no abatement to price increases, with the median existing home price for all housing types up 13.3% to $352,800. That is almost twice the median price here!
So if your school spirit is inspiring you to kick off a winning season of homebuying or selling, reach out to me steve.smith@stevesmithteam.com or call 574-360-2569 and I’ll be happy to bring you across the goal line.
Until next month!