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 for the housing market 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.
Home prices are holding steady in North Liberty and that may be attributed to the fact that there’s a lot of new construction there. In fact about 40% of the homes sold in North Liberty in 2011 were new construction. Typically prices for new construction homes don’t fluctuate much, which may be the reason we’re not seeing a whole lot of movement when it comes to home prices in North Liberty.
I think the big take away with the trend for the housing market in North Liberty is that even more than in the other areas I cover, talking to a Realtor who knows the housing market is the best way to figure out what your options are when it comes to selling or buying a home. Once you add a lot of new construction to the mix there are too many variables to cover in one simple blog post.
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 January 4, 2011
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