PEORIA, Ill. — A local realtors group says homes sales in the Peoria-area were down sharply year-over-year this last quarter, but it’s mainly because the inventory of houses in the local market remains historically low.
The Peoria Area Association of Realtors says about 355 fewer homes sold in the second quarter of this year than the same period last year.
That’s a 15.2 percent decline.
“It’s not a bad thing. Things are just selling quickly,” said Robin Simpson, PAAR President-Elect. “Our inventory keeps going down, so when there’s less to sell, there’s less sales. But, we are still seeing things sell very quickly. Our average sales price has gone up a bit, but still extremely affordable.”
The average sale price for those homes was just over $168,000, up about $14,000 from last year’s second quarter average, but still well under home prices in most of the rest of the country.
The median price for a U.S. home topped $400,000 for the first time in May.
PAAR President Ryan Cannon says in a news release, “fewer homes to sell means there will be a decline in sales”.
He says there are still more and more people moving into the Peoria area from out-of-state, due in part to the relatively low cost of housing here.
