Here’s your local market update for July 2023! If you’d like to watch instead of read: Click here!

The Des Moines housing market appears to be bucking some of the national trends, on quite a few levels. And that is why I thought it would be interesting this month to first share the local market stats which I do every month, and then show what the national trends are in the same categories. Then wrap it all up at the end to show why it is important to know the difference.

First, in the housing inventory. Nationally, the growth of the housing inventory slowed for the fourth month in a row, while we saw an increase in the number of homes on the market for the third month in a row! Thanks, in part, to more new construction hitting the market. Thank you to the builders having continued confidence in our market! July had 2,880 homes on the market compared to the 2781 homes on the market in June, which is an increase of 3.6%. And a 10.9% increase from the 2596 homes we had on the market in July 2022. The national housing market had a 9.1% decrease of homes on the market year over year.

Our home sales, or homes that closed in July, both on a national and local level showed declines. Our local home sales decreased in July with 1222 closed when compared to the 1464 homes that closed in June. Year-over-year comparisons were similar, representing a 15.8% decrease from the 1,452 homes sold in July 2022. On a national level, home sales decreased by 12% compared to last year.

Pending sales followed suit with a decline for both monthly and yearly stats. With 1,266 pending sales in July, the drop was 6.2% for monthly comparison and 2.6% for year over year comparison. On the national scale, pending sales were down 12.6% year over year, so locally we actually had more buyers writing offers on homes than on the national level.

July’s median sale price of $286,300 represents a slight decrease from last month’s price of $291,700. But our year-over-year median price is on the rise, with an increase of 4.9% compared to the $272,990 median price in July 2022. Again, our local market is bucking the national trend which has a .9% decrease of the median price from last July 2022 which means locally we are maintaining our home prices and seeing them increase from last year whereas nationally the prices have come down.

Last month, homes averaged 42 days on the market, which is the same number as June, but a significant increase from the 25 days of July 2022. The national trend for

days on market was 45 days in July, so our homes sold more quickly in the month of July, AND our homes sold more quickly year over year as the national trend was 34 days in July 2022, ours was 25 days.

So, think of it this way: knowing what's happening in your local real estate market versus just looking at the big national picture is like the difference between seeing the forest and focusing on the trees. Both are important, but they give you different insights.

Local trends inform you about timing when to buy, when to sell, how to price your home, who’s moving in and out, what is the supply and demand of your particular neighborhood, what are the next up and coming neighborhoods, etc.

National stats are like general advice – useful, but not exactly tailor-made for you.

So, whether you're a homebuyer, seller, or just curious about real estate, remember that local stats are your key to understanding what's really happening in your neck of the woods. Don't just settle for the big picture – dive into the details that matter where you live!