Area home sales fall for third straight month

Home-sale agreements in central Indiana slid 9.4 percent November, the third straight month of declining sales.

Real estate agency F.C. Tucker Co. said Monday that home buyers signed agreements to buy 1,643 homes in the nine-county area last month, down 170 homes from November 2012.

Although area sales of existing homes are up 15.4 percent through the first 11 months of the year, the trend has reversed in recent months amid higher mortgage rates and dwindling inventories. Year-over-year sales have fallen in four of the last five months.

Mortgage rates had been near all-time lows this year through mid-May, but began creeping up in June. They remain low on a historical basis, but not quite the bargain they were in the spring.

Marion County saw a 2.6-percent decrease in pending sales, from 737 last November to 718 this year.

Contracts decreased 13 percent in Hamilton County, to 326. Hendricks County pending sales fell nearly 37 percent, to 121.

Contracts fell 12 percent in Johnson County, to 129.

The only area county to see an increase was Madison, where pending sales rose 22 percent, to 121.

Available homes for sale in the region dropped 6.6 percent in November, to 10,680, down by 756 homes from 2012.

The average year-to-date price in the area rose 6.3 percent, to $165,888, compared with the same period of 2012.

Seven area homes that sold in November were priced between $1 million and $2 million. Forty-six were priced between $500,000 and $1 million.