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26
Quad Cities Housing Market Recovery Charging Ahead
Regional real estate sales are strong. Sales volume is up in almost all of our markets for the first 6 months of the year compared to 2011: Burlington Area +17% Cedar Rapids Area +16% Clinton Area +34% Dubuque Area +17% Illinois Quad Cities +18% Iowa Quad Cities +21% Iowa City Area +28% Muscatine/Wilton Area +12% Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS sales volume is up 29% through June and sales pended but not yet closed in June were up 23.5%, so the momentum continues. Regionally, new construction sales are up 15% through June, while our new construction inventory has dropped 28%. According to Eric Belsky, Managing Director of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, "people are slowly getting more confident…more Americans are deciding that it's a good time to buy…you know, the opportunity to buy at or near the bottom of a cycle is great. And I think people are beginning to appreciate that… meanwhile, the cost of renting a house or apartment has been rising. When you compare the cost of owning versus the cost of renting, it hasn't looked this good in 40 to 50 years." "And we are sitting in the 'sweet spot' in the country, both for real estate sales and appreciation," notes Caroline Ruhl, President of Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS. According to the Real Trends Housing Market Report, housing unit sales for May 2012 were up 20.1% in the Midwest, the strongest showing in the country for the fourth consecutive month. According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, of the 303 MSA's (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) ranked by home price appreciation, all of Ruhl&Ruhl's markets ranked in the top 20% in the nation. "The Housing market recovery is charging ahead with units in the double digit range while prices were up from a year ago for the second month in a row," observes Steve Murray, editor of the REAL Trends Housing Market Report. "The market is being charged by the strong presence of investors and first-time buyers but far more move-up buyers are appearing. The shortage of inventory…is also starting to drive prices upward." Inventory in our region is declining. Properties listed for sale have fallen compared to June 2011: down 11% in the Burlington area, down 10% in the Cedar Rapids area, down 22% in DeWitt, down 26% in the Dubuque area, down 16% in the Illinois Quad Cities, down 4% in the Iowa Quad Cities, down 12% in the Iowa City area, down 17% in Maquoketa/Preston/Bellevue and down 6% in the Muscatine/Wilton area. "Properties are selling faster than we can list them," notes Ruhl. "In the Quad Cities, for example, we have the lowest inventory on the MLS that we have had since the summer of 2005. We really need more properties listed for us to sell." A family-owned company since 1862, Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS has grown to 280 sales associates, 58 employees and eleven offices, selling more than 4,100 homes in eastern Iowa, western Illinois and southwestern Wisconsin. The company has residential sales offices in Bettendorf, Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Clinton, Davenport, DeWitt, Dubuque, Iowa City, Maquoketa and Muscatine, Iowa; and in Moline, Illinois. In addition to residential sales, the company offers services in relocation, property management, real estate investments, new home sales, land development, farm sales, senior services, home vendor services, insurance services through the Nelson Brothers Agency and mortgage services through 1862 Mortgage. For more information on Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS, visit their website at www.RuhlHomes.com.
