This is a home for sale in Mount Lebanon, Pa., on Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. Homebuilders and other real estate companies are increasingly betting that would-be homebuyers frustrated with a shortage of homes for sale and runaway prices will settle for renting their slice of the American Dream. While individual homeowners and mom-and-pop investors still account for the vast majority of single-family rental homes, homebuilders have stepped up construction this year of new houses being built for rent.(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Greater Springfield Board of Realtors (GSBOR) has provided year-over-year statistics on the residential market comparing May 2021 to May 2022. The numbers show home prices have gone up by about $50,000 and homes don’t stay on the market as long. A local realtor gave us some perspective on the current market in Greene, Christian and Webster counties.
Realtor Dusty Loveland says these numbers are fairly typical going up and down the way they are.
He says the larger issue is the price of new construction where the builders can’t build under $200,000.
“They can’t make any money on a home. You know, we’ve… always been able to have a lot of new construction around and that really did spoil a lot of the first home buyers. And we builders can’t afford to make a house for under $200 a square foot right now,” says Loveland. “Because the land is so expensive, the materials are so expensive and we’re running out of the surplus of all the new homes that were in the progress of being built in the last few years.”
He says builders aren’t able to replenish homes as fast as people are buying them and that affects the whole market.
“You also have to take into consideration lumber has gone up so much a sheet of OSB plywood was $9 two-three years ago. Now it’s $35 for the same. I mean, and that’s when you consider the price of building a house… we’ve always had new houses in the area, and now there’s no new houses.” said Loveland.
These problems with supply and demand drive the prices of older homes and rent up, according to Loveland.
“If the builders can’t build a house as affordable as they used to be, then, unfortunately, the price of everything is going to go up in the market,” Loveland said. He said gas prices have made it difficult for builders trying to build outside of the city as well.
“It’s what we would call a seller’s market for the most part. The interest rates are on the way up,” says Realtor Dusty Loveland. “There’s no new homes to compete with… There’s just so few houses that people have to buy what’s for sale.”
According to GSBOR, slightly fewer homes were sold in May of 2022 versus May of 2021. In May 2022, 710 homes were sold, but 722 were sold in May 2021.
The median sales price has gone up from $207,000 in May 2021 to $260,000 this year. The average number of days on market also decreased from 15 to 12.
Looking at the statistics by county, Greene County sold 523 homes in May 2021 but has only sold 475 this year. The median sales price has gone up from $200,000 to $251,000 and the average number of days on market was 16 in 2021 and was 12 days this year.
Christian County sold 144 homes last May and actually sold 179 homes this year. The median sales price did go up from $260,000 to $300,000, while the average number of days on market was 11 in 2021 to 12 this year.
Webster County sold 55 homes in May of 2021 and sold 56 this year. The median sales price was at $185,000, but now it has risen to $217,500. The average days on market was 19 but is now at 13 days.
In terms of a year to date, all three counties totaled 3,113 Homes sold in 2021 and 2,824 this year. As for median sales prices, 2021 cost $207,000 and 2022 cost $247,000 with the average days on market going from 24 to 15.
