Great October for C.R. real estate market

Posted on Nov 16, 2009 by David DeWitte.

Single family home sales were up 8 percent in Cedar Rapids during October to the highest level in at least a decade.

The Cedar Rapids Area Association of Realtors reports that 422 single-family homes were sold from its multiple listing service in October, at an average price of $155,529. That is the highest number of homes sold in October in at least a decade, according to Kevin Platz, association executive.

Sales in the Iowa City Area Association of Realtors multiple listing service dipped by 2.6 percent from a year ago, to 168. Association President Jeff Dill described the local market as “pretty consistent.”

Dill, returning from the National Association of Realtors national convention in San Diego, said he’s glad to be working in Iowa City these days instead of some of the markets hit hard by the real estate downturn.

October’s dip is “not a significant trend,” Dill said.

The average price of a home sold in Iowa City during October was $183,279, up nearly 3 percent  from a year earlier.

October real estate sales statewide were up 0.2 percent, to 2,815 units. 

Platz said one probable factor in the 8 percent sales gain Cedar Rapids saw in single family home sales from a year ago may have been uncertainty over the future of a federal home buyer tax credit that is expiring. He said buyers might have decided to take the plunge instead of risking the loss of the credit if they waited.