Home sales in the Peoria area continue to set records for the region, topping the $1 billion mark for the first time last year as continued low inventory drives an extended seller's market.
The Peoria Area Association of Realtors on Friday reported home sales totaling $1.1 billion in 2021, with an increase to 7,634 closings from 6,798 the previous year.
“It’s a cool milestone to hit,” said PAAR president Ryan Cannon. “We had just a hair less listings in 2021 than we did in 2020. I mean, pretty small, of basically half a percent, but we sold more. So what that tells us is we chipped away at existing inventory. We sold basically everything that came on the market.”
Homes also sold quickly, with the average time on the market dropping to 49 days from 89. Across Illinois, the number of days houses remained on the market dropped 37% in 2021.
“The supply has been going down every month, so I would say the seller's market has been going on for pretty much a solid two years now. I don't see necessarily an end in sight,” said Cannon, pointing to a drop in new home construction contributing to the ongoing inventory shortage.
After an 11% increase from 2019 to 2020, the average sale price in the Peoria area climbed 4.7% last year to about $154,300. Cannon said compared to the national average price of more than $300,000, Peoria presents an attractive option for outside buyers.
“I think that places like Peoria have just seen outside interest that we haven't seen before,” he said. “There's people that have the ability right now to choose where they live because they can work from anywhere, and I think what the Peoria area has to offer has been pulling people here from across the country because it's affordable.”
Cannon said he expects supply will continue to dictate the market in 2022, while interest rates are expected to increase.
“I think there's a pool of buyers out there that are just waiting for properties to become available,” he said. “I would be cautiously optimistic that we would exceed the same numbers again next year. But again, it just depends on what we have available to sell.”
