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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowCentral Indiana home sales slid in May with Hamilton County posting the biggest decline, real estate agency F.C. Tucker Co. said Thursday morning.
Pending sales of existing homes in the nine-county area dipped 3.9 percent, to 2,910, in May—a decrease of 117 houses over May 2014.
However, area sales agreements are up 9 percent through the first five months of the year. That amounted to 13,205 homes, compared with 12,118 over the same period last year.
In May, results in the area's two biggest markets were lukewarm to chilly. Sales were nearly flat in Marion County. They increased less than 1 percent, to 1,258, compared with 1,248 in May 2014. Hamilton County sales fell 15 percent, from 722 to 614.
Hendricks County saw the biggest increase—9.3 percent—as the number of deals jumped from 248 to 271. Sales also rose in Madison County, where they jumped 8.6 percent, to 165. Hancock County’s sales last month remained stagnant at 116.
Johnson County deals dropped from 267 to 231. Transactions also fell in Boone County, from 119 to 113, in Morgan County, from 106 to 94, and in Shelby County, from 49 to 48.
Available homes for sale in the nine-county region decreased 4.3 percent in May, to 10,928—a drop of 486 from May 2014.
“With only 3.8 months of inventory available in central Indiana, we’re definitely experiencing a seller’s market,” said Jim Litten, president of F.C. Tucker Co. “Sellers are benefitting from rising prices as inventory continues to tighten.”
Year-to-date sale prices for the area increased 5.6 percent over the same period in 2014, to an average of $178,606.
Hamilton County had the highest average, at $272,722, up from $260,731 in the first five months of 2014. In Marion County, the average rose 6.9 percent, from $131,314 last year to $140,377.
Seven houses priced at more than $1 million were sold in the area in April, including two priced at more than $2 million. Five were priced between $1 million and $2 million, and 101 fell between $500,000 and $1 million.
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