(Treynor, IA) -- Southwest Iowa real estate broker Byron Menke says Midwest states are in a good position for in-migration. Menke, the President-elect of the Iowa Association of Realtors says he things it's part of a pandemic-related trend, caused in part by tele-working. He says buyers have realized as long as they have high speed internet, they can live wherever they want to live. He says he and his fellow realtors have noticed an increase in inquiries from residents of very large metropolitan areas about real estate in states such as Iowa and Nebraska. He says where such buyers may have been motivated to leave urban areas for a variety of reasons, the pandemic appears to have been a strong factor.
The Iowa Association of Realtors February report finds home sales were steady. The report shows a 14-percent increase in the median price, over last year, to $177-thousand dollars. He says that's due to strong buyer-demand. He says another key indicator of the strength of the market is how many days a home is on the market before it sells. He says a home may sell within days in larger cities, but even in rural areas homes are selling more quickly than usual.
The IAR February report lists 2,337 homes selling in Iowa in February. The IAR says the number of homes available for sale continues to be low in many price ranges. Inventory of homes was nearly 37-percent percent lower than in February 2020 with only 8,170 homes on the market statewide.
Homes sold very quickly in February at an average of 55 days on the market. That is almost 30 percent faster than February of 2020.
(Photo Getty Images)