NWI homes sales get lift in first month of year

Home sales in Northwest Indiana began the year on the upbeat in January, with 7.6 percent more single-family existing homes sold than in the year-ago month, the Greater Northwest Indiana Association of REALTORS reported.

In January, 427 single-family homes were sold in the five counties covered by the association as compared to 397 in January 2011. That has Realtors optimistic the worst is over.

"The good weather, a little better mood in the country, lower unemployment — all that combines to make it seem like we've turned the corner," said Gene Ayers, owner of Ayers Realtors in Gary's Miller Beach neighborhood.

Last year marked the first in five years that home sales did not decline in Northwest Indiana, according to Greater Northwest Indiana Association of REALTORS' sales figures. The January increase follows a similar increase in December.

Nationally, single-family home sales rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.05 million in January, a 2.3 percent increase as compared to sales in January 2011, according to the National Association of Realtors.

"The uptrend in home sales is in line with all of the underlying fundamentals — pent-up household formation, record-low mortgage interest rates, bargain home prices, sustained job creation and rising rents," National Association of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun said.

The average interest rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage was an all-time record low 3.92 percent in January, down from 3.96 percent in December, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey.

Selling prices nationally on a year-to-year basis continued to decline in January, with a single-family home selling for a median price of $154,400 in January, a decline of 2.6 percent from January 2011. In Northwest Indiana the median selling price was down 11.3 percent from January 2011.

That decline mainly seems to be because of foreclosed homes sold at discount prices, Ayers said. However, prices of nondistressed homes locally are holding up, particularly in the last few months, Ayers said.

Distressed homes, those either in foreclosure or sold in short sales, accounted for 35 percent of all sales nationally in January, according to the National Association of Realtors.

In Lake County, 246 single-family homes sold in January with a median price of $97,500, as compared to 217 homes at a median price of $108,000 in January 2011, according to the Greater Northwest Indiana Association of REALTORS.

In Porter County, 89 homes sold in January with a median selling price of $150,000, as compared to 91 homes at a median price of $155,900 in January 2011, according to association figures.

The Greater Northwest Indiana Association of REALTORS represents Realtors and reports sales data in Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Jasper and Newton counties.