Real estate rundown: October 2024 housing market report

Real estate rundown: October 2024 housing market report

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — “Resilient” is how local realtors are describing the housing market in central Indiana.

Dan Brown, a realtor with FC Tucker, joined “Daybreak” on Tuesday for the monthly Real Estate Rundown, where he broke down the October report.

According to Brown, mortgage rates increased for six straight weeks, but the market is seeing more inventory and sales.

“Resilient is the right word. You know, October is kind of one of those months where things are starting to slow down and we have had interest rates creeping back up. In fact, they weren’t creeping, they’ve been kind of lurching back up,” Brown said. 

Mortgage rates are currently sitting just under 7%. Brown says this time last year they shot up to almost 8%. 

“When we looked at the numbers, we were looking at what happened versus last year instead of just last month – because that’s a good indicator,” Brown said. “What happened is people bought houses, they still bought houses. So we’ve got roughly 10% higher sales in units. The prices didn’t move which – you know – the cost of buying that house is maybe a little bit dampening, but the prices held, they didn’t fall. And we’ve even got about 10% more listings. So, the active in the market is surprisingly strong considering that those interest rates have crept back up.”

Here are the report’s key highlights from October:

  • October brought in 11% more new listings than last year
  • Boasted a healthy 15% increase in new pending sales 
  • Inventory continues to rise to a healthier 6,000 properties

“We see the interest rates coming up and as one economist I read said the other day – the world is very sensitive to this interest rate right now,” Brown said. “When I say the world, I mean buyers. And that’s true. It does affect people’s buying habits, they are taking more time to buy. So, the days on market – the time to sell that house, has actually gone up 50% over last year. It now takes – on the median – about 21 days to be under contract and that’s significantly higher than it was.”

Brown has some advice for anyone thinking of buying or selling a house in this market. Listen to the interview above to hear why the mortgage rates and potential payments may not be as scary as they seem.

WISH-TV’s Hanna Mordoh and FC Tucker Realtor Dan Brown.
(WISH Photo)