Home sales in the Peoria area were down in the third quarter compared with last year, but the market is still ahead of its 2020 pace.
Ryan Cannon, president of the Peoria Area Association of Realtors (PARR), notes that a big reason for the decline in total sales from July through September can be attributed to having fewer properties available.
“We had 36% less homes for sale over the third quarter (1,099, compared to 1,737 in 2020). So, the home sales were down a little bit, as you can imagine they would be based off that actual available inventory,” said Cannon.
PAAR records indicate 2,117 homes were sold in the region during the third quarter, compared with 2,245 in the same period last year — a decline of 5.7%. However, total sales across the region are up 14.4% for the year, with 5,807 closings through the first nine months of 2021.
Meanwhile, the average third-quarter sale price increased to $162,108 from $152,069. Cannon said the reduced supply is also behind the rising costs, and there’s no easy solution to the inventory shortage.
“It's almost like a bottleneck effect,” he said. “We've been under building for a decade, not that all new construction is the answer. But you have a lot of people kind of sitting on maybe their first or second house and looking to upgrade, but they're not able to find that property.
“So then that person looking to buy their property isn't getting in there because they're just waiting for more. Without inventory opening up in the middle price points — the $200,000-$300,000 range — the people who are still in their first house aren't able to move into the next one, because there's just nothing to buy.”
Cannon said he doesn’t think potential buyers are starting to get priced out of the market.
“I think Peoria still has a wide selection of price points; we have pricing at every level,” he said. “I think it's going to manage buyers’ expectations of what they get for their money, not that there's not an option for them.”
Cannon said how the market performs over the final three months of the year will rely heavily on more properties becoming available.
“Historically, the fourth quarter has probably been our slowest quarter of the year with the holidays and everything else,” said Cannon. “But I think there's a lot of buyers out there still looking for the one. So, I think that you're going to continue to see us chipping away at old inventory, and then new inventory, as it comes on, it's probably going to get bought right away.”
