Central Indiana home deals experience June swoon

Central Indiana home-sale agreements slid 4.8 percent in June, the third time in four months that deals have fallen, according to a report released Tuesday by real estate agency F.C. Tucker Co.

Pending sales of existing homes in the nine-county area dipped to 2,806 in June—a decrease of 143 houses over June 2014. Five of the nine central Indiana counties included in the report saw a reduction in sales.

Despite the decline, sales agreements are up 8.8 percent in the area through the first half of the year thanks mostly to strong sales in January and February.

Sales agreements dipped 1.5 percent in June in Marion County, to 1,175 homes, but are up 11.9 percent year-to-date compared with the same six months of 2014.

Deals plummeted 15.2 percent in Hamilton County in June, to 595, but are up 6.6 percent year-to-date.

Hendricks County saw a 3.7-percent increase in June transactions, to 283. Madison County deals were up 10.3 percent, to 160, and Hancock County sales rose 3.7 percent, to 112.

Johnson County sales were off 17.3 percent, to 225; Boone County deals fell 1.8 percent, to 107; and Morgan County transactions dropped 8.7 percent, to 95.

The area’s shrinking home inventory helped drive up average prices. There were 11,285 available homes on the central Indiana market in June, a 6-percent decline from a year ago.

Year-to-date sales prices for the area were up 4.8 percent compared with June 2014, to $182,627. Hamilton County had the highest average price, at $275,801, followed by Boone at $271,819.

The average sales price in Marion County during the first six months of the year was $144,524, up 7.1 percent from the same period of 2014.

Eight houses priced at more than $1 million were sold in the area in June, and 92 fell between $500,000 and $1 million.