The number of homes on the market in the Des Moines metro area rose again in January with 2,475 listed homes. This is a 46% increase over the same time last year reported the Des Moines Area Association of Realtors. However, the current inventory of properties represents a 10% decrease from the 2,747 on the market last month.

Home sales, or homes closed, dropped 38.9% in January, with 596 homes sold, compared to the 976 sold in January 2022. Home sales in January represented a 34% drop from the 906 sold in December 2022.

The median sale price of $255,000 remained steady with a slight 2% uptick from both January 2022 and December 2022. Last month, homes averaged 52 days on the market.

So, how’s the market? The best news is in pending sales! Pending sales are active listings that pended in the month of January…so buyers submitting offers and sellers accepting those offers. Pending sales in January were nearly double from the month prior!! There were 1,104 pending sales in January, a 67% increase from the 661 pending sales recorded in December. Which means, market activity is picking up from last month! So even though we had extreme cold temperatures and holidays and higher interest rates, buyers were still out there buying homes. These pending sales will be recorded as sales in February or March as most escrows are usually between 30 and 45 days!