Data from 2023 real estate sales from the City of Carroll show homes are selling faster and at higher prices than just a few years ago. Mike Franey from Mid-Iowa Insurance and Real Estate, who serves as President of the Carroll County Growth Partnership (CCGP), says the local market is healthy. Still, there were some noticeable shifts in the data last year, starting with the average sale price for a house. In 2019, the average home sold for $154,000, but that figure increased to $190,000 in 2023. Franey says multiple factors play into the nearly 25-percent jump, but he believes low housing stock is the key contributor.
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Franey adds that the cost of building a home has increased tremendously in recent years, adding to the higher home prices. Despite the higher prices, the average time on the market for a home in Carroll was just 41 days, compared to 99 days in 2019. He says fewer property owners were selling last year, too.
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Franey adds another contributing factor is a slowdown in new homes being added to the housing stock. Only around two dozen new houses were built in 2023, compared to the 50 or so that were built annually 20 years ago. Franey says there is clearly a demand for housing, but filling that demand is increasingly more challenging.
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City officials have aggressively pursued incentives for new homes, such as the infill housing program, tax abatements, and partnerships with developers. Franey says those efforts appear to be working, but Carroll has underbuilt for more than ten years and it will take time to build its way out.