Springfield, state residential sales rebound in 2013

Last year, the residential real estate market was humming in Missouri and the Springfield area. For the year, more than 67,000 residential properties were sold across the state, an increase of 9.3 percent compared to 2012 and more than 25 percent above 2011.

Sales volume statewide last year landed at $10.6 billion, up 17 percent compared to 2012 and 41 percent from 2011, according to the Missouri Association of Realtors. In 2013, the average residential single-family home selling price was $155,778 statewide, an increase of 7.5 percent from the previous year and 12.4 percent from the year before.

The upward movement was due to a combination of factors, said Missouri Association of Realtors CEO Russ Cofano.

“This has been fueled in the past 24 months in Missouri by an increasingly favorable employment market with continued favorable interest rates and positive consumer outlook,” Cofano said. “When you mix those three things, then you have a good housing market.”

Greater Springfield Board of Realtors Association Executive Jessica Hickok said the Queen City contributed positively to the statewide scene.

Average sale prices across Springfield rose 6 percent to $136,580 in 2013, compared to $128,765 in 2012. Average sale prices in the city had dropped steadily to $125,422 in 2011 from $139,243 in 2008, according GSBOR data.

“All indications are that we are going in the right direction,” Hickok said, adding foreclosures in the market changed dramatically last year, dropping by 36 percent compared to 2012.

Hickok projects Springfield sale prices will increase by another 6 percent in 2014.

The average number of days homes remained on the market last year fell to 80 from 93 in 2012, and the average number of units sold per month jumped 11.3 percent to 541 in 2013, compared to 486 a year ago.

The activity last year far outpaced 2008, when a monthly average of 1,292 single-family residential properties were listed in Springfield and 490 sold. In 2013, an average of 928 homes were listed in town per month and 51 more homes sold, according to the GSBOR.

Cofano said variables such as interest rates and housing inventory can impact the outlook in 2014, but he believes job growth would continue to support an improving housing market.  

“We are hoping for sustained growth in terms of units sold. The challenge we had in the last several months of 2013 – where we ticked down a little bit not only in Missouri, but nationally as well – was a slight increase in mortgage rates along with lower inventory,” Cofano said. “As long as jobs continue to grow, then we have the makings of 2014 being very similar to 2013.”

According to the state Realtors association, fourth-quarter sales volume increased, but home sales dipped.

Overall sales volume was up 7.7 percent to more than $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter compared to the same quarter in 2012, but the number of homes sold during the three-month period nudged downward by 1.7 percent to 14,720 homes sold.[[In-content Ad]]