INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — According to a report from “Talk to Tucker Realtors,” interest rate increases have cooled the housing market, as expected, but it is holding steady in central Indiana.

F.C. Tucker Realtor, Dan Brown, joined Sunday’s Daybreak to share more information on the housing market. Brown says the housing market in central Indiana has remained steady in August, with inventory increasing in several counties and prices increasingly slowing.

According to the F.C. Tucker Company report, in August 2023, available housing inventory decreased 1.7% and home sale prices decreased 9.4%, yet year-to-date home sale prices remain strong increasing by 5.5%.

• The average August 2023 home sale price for the 16-county central Indiana region was $292,062, a decrease of 9.4% compared to August 2022.
• Available housing inventory decreased 1.7% compared to August 2022.
• Pended home sales decreased, down 20.6% compared to this time last year.

In August 2023, 2,947 central Indiana homes were purchased, down 20.6% from the 3,712 sold in August 2022. No counties experienced an increase in pended home sales; however:

• Boone County experienced the smallest decrease in pended home sales in August 2023, down 7% compared to this time last year.
• Putnam County pended sales had the greatest decrease with 40.3 percent fewer homes sold in August 2023 compared to August 2022.

Central Indiana year-to-date home sale prices increased, up 5.5% overall:

• Brown County recorded the highest average year-to-date home sale price increase at 3 percent.
• Hamilton County had the highest average year-to-date home sale price in the region at $504,698.
• Homes sold in 33 days on average, remaining on the market 16 days, or 94.1% longer than in 2022. All homes in central Indiana remained on the market longer than in August 2022 except Decatur County, which saw homes selling in the same amount of time, 33 days, as in 2022.

Brown says the median sales price has remained unchanged for the 4th month in a row. He says this is “great news for buyers who were facing huge increases, and also for sellers since they didn’t go down either.”

According to Brown, the days-on-market rate has significantly increased on average and has doubled since last year, but great homes that are correctly priced and prepared are still selling in a day or two.

Interest rate increases have finally cooled the market as expected. The results have been a welcome calming to the market, without the steep decline in prices seen in other areas of the country. 

According to Brown, central Indiana remains an excellent overall real estate market. As the interest rate increases flatten out or perhaps take their expected turn downward, look for a return to fast-paced sales and prices ticking up – but absent the chaotic environment of the past few years.