Home to over 9,000 residents in some of the city of South Bend’s most desirable neighborhoods such as Harter Heights and Coquillard Woods, the 46617 zip code has undergone somewhat of an evolution in recent years – and the past 12 months have seen the trends that make this area so exciting continue – and even accelerate.
With its proximity to downtown South Bend, the University of Notre Dame, and newer amenities such as the Eddy Street Commons retail district, 46617 offers prime home locations for residents who want to be close to restaurants, shopping, and employment. In fact, an estimated 17% of residents in the area regularly walk, bike, or take public transportation to or from work. The national trend of city neighborhoods once again becoming desirable places to live, especially among millennials, appears to be in full force here, with a younger population median aged 31 as opposed to 34 for South Bend as a whole. And with it bordering on the south end of Notre Dame’s campus and housing the site of the new St Joseph High School within its borders, it’s no surprise that an impressive 55% of residents in this area hold bachelors or post-graduate degrees.
So how do these factors affect the housing market in the 46617 area? Well 2016 was a banner year for the housing market in general, with inventories of existing homes on market not being sufficient to meet a comparatively robust demand. So in general we saw prices appreciate and time on market decrease across the board as competition among home buyers became more intense. In 46617 the already strong median home values (35% higher than the greater South Bend area) continued to appreciate, with median sale prices in the past 12 months rising to $120K from the $105K during the 12 months prior (figure 1). The area further displayed many of the benchmarks of a surprisingly strong housing market with the average sold price per square foot increasing by a healthy $8.50 (figure 2) while the median days on market fell by an astonishing 67% (figure 4). Sellers saw further benefit from the competitive market as sale prices held stronger with a 2.7% average increase in the retained value metric of list price vs sale price (figure 3).
46617’s Northeast Neighborhood has been one of several strong drivers of the area’s growth, seeing a large increase in redevelopment over the past several months, with many beautiful new homes being constructed throughout the area. Irish Realty and our community partners are excited to be involved in several of these projects, with multiple home sites available, new builds and renovations in progress, and a proposed townhome development (corbylawrencetownhomes.com) that we hope to break ground on in the coming months.
All signs point to continued growth in the housing market over the near term, and thanks to several factors including strong area neighborhood associations and a proactive city government, the 46617 market is likely to not only keep pace with the broader overall growth trends, but outperform many other neighborhoods in our area.
About the author
Steve Smith
Senior broker and team leader at Irish Realty, Steve has been a top producing agent since 2005 and has represented clients in transactions totaling well over $130M in career sales. With a broad experience base that is not simply limited to single family homes, coupled with his market leading track record of success, Steve has established himself as one of the South Bend area’s most respected Realtors. You can follow Steve on Facebook and several other social media platforms.
