From our family to yours, we hope you have enjoyed the holidays and are looking forward to a prosperous 2024! 2023 has been a, shall we say, different year? From lots of politics in the news, to conflicts around the world, to several-decade high interest rates and inflation, to trying to stave off a recession…and all of this on the heels of the COVID pandemic; we have had a LOT of distractions and things to worry about.
We truly hope that 2024 will be a little less crazy, even though we have a presidential election to contend with, which will certainly prove to be entertaining.
The holidays for our family have been fairly quiet with hosting Steve’s family on Christmas Eve and then to Brigid’s family on Christmas evening. It has been nice to stay at home and not have to travel and just enjoy some quiet time together, especially since this is Ana’s first time home for Christmas being a college student. The family just feels complete when she is home.
Thea went back home to Cleveland to spend time with her family and Michael’s for their son Parks’ first Christmas. They have enjoyed being around family for this special first Christmas.
Kylie has enjoyed being able to take the last 10-days of the year off to spend time with her family in Carmel. She puts a lot of time in during the year and we are happy to see her able to enjoy a much-deserved vacation.
The end of the year brings endings and new beginnings. For me, that means officially finishing my term as Chairman of The Board of Directors of the Westfield Chamber of Commerce. That is a bittersweet transition as it will add a lot more time into my schedule, but I will miss leading the work we have done. I will still enjoy being part of the board and exec team as Immediate Past Chair, but happy to turn the reins over to my successor. I will continue to serve MIBOR on the Professional Standards Committee, which hears cases relating to potential violations of the Code of Ethics. This has been an extremely educational experience for me these past couple of years serving on that and the 3 prior years serving on the Grievance Committee. I am also serving as one of a few Mediators for MIBOR. We mediate commission disputes between members and strive to find some common ground between the parties before the case gets elevated to Arbitration. This is also extremely gratifying as we provide a hopefully more equitable experience for the parties involved.
The real estate market has been wonky to say the least. Statistically, we are in a strong sellers’ market with only 2 months of inventory, however due to the ‘high’ interest rates and high cost of housing (it is the highest on record-even higher than it was in the 1980s when interest rates peaked at 18.3%!), coupled with the artificially low mortgage interest rates we saw over the past few years, people aren’t wanting to sell and buyers are reluctant to buy. Additionally, millennials who make up the majority of the first-time buyers are more mobile than prior generations and are choosing to rent much longer that prior generations. The average age of a first-time homebuyer today is 38-years old-a full 10-years older that the decade before! Their net worth is being negatively impacted as data shows the average net worth of a renter is $10,000 (down $12,000 in the past decade) and that of a homeowner is $398,700 (almost double in the past decade)! Bottom line, the faster you become a homeowner and start paying yourself and allowing appreciation and debt pay down to build your net worth (not to mention the tax advantages), the faster you will be on your way to financial security. Housing prices are only predicted to increase into the foreseeable future as there will be no silver bullet to our housing shortage. In fact, in any 10-year period, housing has always gone up (even including the recession of 2008-2012).
If you would like to learn more about buying, selling, or building as it relates to your specific situation, please e-mail Steve@Welcome2Indy.com.
Finally, our first Happy Hour of 2024 will be on Thursday, January 18th from 5-6:30pm at Matt The Miller’s in Carmel. Rhoda Israelov with Say It for You will be co-sponsoring this month. We are looking for someone who would like to co-sponsor with her. Send Steve an e-mail if you are interested! Great opportunity to reach hundreds of people for half the price of a usual sponsorship!
Here are the stats from MIBOR comparing October 2023 to November 2023:
Median Sales Price-no change-$289,950
Closed Sales-DOWN 4.5% to 2,200 units
New Listings-DOWN 23.3% to 2,202 units
Pending Sales-DOWN 10.3% to 2,008 units
Median Days on Market-UP 46.7% to 22 days
Average Days on Market-UP 14.0% to 41 days
Price per s.f.-no change-$151
% of List Price Received-DOWN 0.7% to 97.5%
Active Inventory-DOWN 11.0% to 4,497 units
Months Supply of Inventory-DOWN 6.7% to 2.0 months
Keep in mind that this is these are typically the slowest months of the year and seeing slowdown in stats is not unusual. Pay attention to the slowdown in new listings as that will impact the new year as well as pending sales. Houses are staying on the market longer and getting lower sales prices. We will see if the spring market turns these trends around, as it is expected to do so.
Happy New Year!!
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Your Friends in Real Estate,
Steve, Kylie, Thea, and Mark
P.S. Please don’t keep us a secret!
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