North Liberty, IA

Lucky for me that February has an extra day this year so I can squeeze in my monthly market report for North Liberty at the last minute. Right in line with expectations Home sales in North Libery are up in January. The numbers are almost as impressive as Iowa City. 26 homes sold in North Liberty January 2012 compared to 12 in 2011. That's a 116% increase compared to an increase of 138% in Iowa City in January.

The absorption rate has dropped to 4.9 months, that's an average of 150 days on market. (6 months absorption rate is a balanced market). 4.9 months absorption rate is technically a sellers market. It's true that the number of homes sold is definitely on the rise in North Liberty. When you click through this link you'll find a table on the original post where you'll see home prices are on the rise too. It's worth noting that home prices are skewed by a few factors. One of them being that about half the homes sold in North Liberty in January were new construction and they typically sell close to or at asking price.

It's the competition from new construction that makes selling a home in North Liberty different to selling a home in Iowa City or Coralville. Not that they don't have new construction in Iowa City or Coralville, just not as much. As we head towards Spring, if you've got a house to sell in North Liberty, now is a very good time to talk to a Realtor. This market report for North Liberty confirms that the housing market in North Liberty is definitely trending in the right direction. Condo sales are particularly encouraging. What you need to know now is how that relates you and your house. Yes, there are more homes selling in North Liberty, but what are the chances of you getting the price you feel your home is worth? Only someone who really knows the North Liberty real estate market can help you figure that out.

Now is the time of course when I point out that I'd love the opportunity to talk with you and discuss what your options are when it comes to selling your home in North Liberty. You can call 319-400-0268 or drop me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!

Home Sales in North Liberty IA January - December 2011

Data for the market report for January collected from the Iowa City MLS February 29, 2012

Originally posted @ Iowa City Homes For Sale

The breakdown of homes sold in North Liberty in 2011 is very different to either Iowa City or Coralville. If you're getting your information from the national media you may want to take note of that. Considering how close North Liberty is to Coralville and Iowa City you'd expect more similarities, but they are truly all very different real estate markets. Looking at the bigger picture, the housing market is trending in the right direction in the greater Iowa City area. If you're buying or selling a home in the area though you'll need to drill it down a whole lot from there. That's why I started these posts giving a breakdown of what is selling. Future posts will look at where houses are selling. For that I'll be looking at school district, since often the school district a house is in will have an impact on desireability and ultimately on price.

So now back to breaking down home sales in North Liberty in 2011. Single family home sales in North Liberty were up by a little more than 13% in 2011 while zero lot sales are down by 21%. Condo sales are also down by just over 3%. What's interesting to note is that zero lot sales in Coralville were up by 46% in 2011. I find it fascinating how buyer preferences change from year to year. Now if I could just figure out why that is I'm sure I could make a fortune!

Source for data for this market report came from the Iowa City MLS January 9, 2011

Originally posted at Iowa City Homes For Sale

Now that we have a full year of data to look at I'm having a fun time putting together market reports for the areas I know best. After looking at Iowa City and Coralville yesterday it's North Liberty's turn today. North Liberty is actually a lot more work to put together since on the MLS it is classified as the NW Quadrant, which includes a couple of smaller markets. I had to extract homes sold in those areas to get the number of homes that sold in North Liberty. On the up side, if you live in Tiffin and are interested in what's happening in the real estate market there, wonder no more. Tiffin is also in the NW Quadrant and I figured since I'm extracting the number of homes sold there anyway I might as well make use of them and compile another market report. Watch out for that next - As you can tell, I'm on a roll here!

469 homes sold in North Liberty in 2011 compared to 473 homes sold in 2010. Since that's less than 1% difference I think we can call it a wash. Keep in mind the number of homes sold in the first half of 2010 was heavily influenced by the first time homebuyer tax credit. We've had no "propping up" of the market in 2011 and the trend in all the areas I cover is moving into positive territory. Particularly in the last 6 months we can see home sales in North Liberty on the rise. This is good news and should help nervous buyers feel more confident about where the real estate market in North Liberty and the greater Iowa City area is headed.

For a table with information on the average price and median price of homes sold in North Liberty in 2011, please visit the original post at Iowa City Homes For Sale.

When you're ready to make a move, please give me a call. I'm always happy to share information to help you figure out your options.

Source for data for this market report came from the Iowa City MLS on January 4, 2011

Time to bring some consistency into my market reports again after a hectic summer selling homes, followed by a hectic fall for me as I got all the pieces in place to start my own company. Generally my market updates start with Iowa City, the poster child of the area. This month I figure North Liberty deserves some extra attention, since that's the area that gets the least attention when I'm busy. (There are logistical reasons for that due to how I'm able to pull data from the Iowa City MLS, but I won't bore you with the details).

When I pulled the number of homes sold for this month in North Liberty I was surprised to see that there was no increase in home sales compared to last year. In fact the numbers are absolutely even - 19 homes sold in November 2011 and November 2010. Iowa City and Coralville both saw increases in November, hence my surprise. I'm sure this is just a glitch. I had a closing scheduled for November 30 that happened on December 1. Maybe there were a run of those. We'll see at the end of the month!

Just to make things interesting this month and since I missed publishing a report last month I'm including October home sales in this market update. The number of homes sold was up in North Liberty in October with 26 homes sold in October 2011 compared to 21 sold in October 2010. That's a pretty decent 19% increase in home sales compared to last year.

All in all home sales in the area continue to be strong. It's good that homes are selling in North Liberty. It will be even better when the prices start to rise. At the moment the buyers are still in the drivers seat putting lots of pressure on prices. It will be interesting to see whether that changes come spring.

For more information on the average and median prices of homes sold in North Liberty please visit the orginal post: Housing Trends in North Liberty IA November 2011 posted on my website.

And here's another link you might like to visit with data on what was going on in the North Liberty real estate market in the 2nd & 3rd Quarter: Housing trends in North Liberty 2nd & 3rd Quarter 2011

Source for data: Iowa City MLS December 5, 2011

North Liberty IA Real Estate Market: Home Sales in the 2nd and 3rd Quarter 2011

Keeping on top of market reports is turning out to be a challenge in the summer months when I'm busy. I'm doubling up with my quarterly reports and giving you two for one this time round by looking at 2nd and 3rd quarter home sales. Last week I covered Iowa City and Coralville. This week it's North Liberty's turn.

170 homes sold in North Liberty in the 2nd quarter 2011 compared to 238 homes sold in the 2nd Quarter 2010 - That's a 28% decrease in home sales compared to last year for the 2nd quarter.

Now let's fast forward to the 3rd Quarter. 150 homes sold in North Liberty in the 3rd Quarter 2011 compared to 104 homes sold in the 3rd Quarter of 2010. That's a 44% increase in home sales compared to last year.

When you look at this data there are a couple of things to keep in mind. First of all, any comparison to last year's numbers of homes sold is going to be skewed. As long as the first time homebuyer credit was around it inflated the numbers, once it was gone it had the opposite effect. The original deadline for closing on a home was at the end of the 2nd Quarter last year. That explains why we see a huge rise in sales in the 2nd quarter 2010 and a huge drop in the 3rd quarter right after that deadline.

Real estate is seasonal, that's why we usually like to look at the statistics based on a comparison to a similar time period in the previous year. That's not working so well for us this year. That's why it makes some sense to look at the number of homes sold in the previous quarter to gauge how the market is trending.

Looking at home sales in the 3rd quarter compared to the the 2nd quarter this year we see that home sales in North Liberty are strong for the time of the year. Following suit with Iowa City and Coralville, the signs are that buyers are gaining confidence in the housing market again. Home prices in North Liberty are great. The interest rate is at a phenomenally low 4.00%. There's no reason why this trend shouldn't continue through the Autumn months.

Source for data: Iowa City MLS October 13, 2011

Originally posted @ Iowa City Homes For Sale