Housing glut easing in Indianapolis area, expert says.

The peak of excess new houses for sale in the Indianapolis area passed about two months ago and is on track to be whittled to a normal level before September, predicts a Nashville, Tenn., company that researches housing stock in 30 Midwestern and Southern cities.

Edsel Charles, who owns Market Graphics in Nashville, Tenn., said that earlier this year about 49 percent of new houses in the market were unoccupied. Charles said that was the peak vacancy for new houses here and that the number is starting to come down.

At the rate the inventory is being absorbed, the figure will wither to about 32 percent by the end of the summer, said Charles, who consults for the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis, an organization of housing contractors. That’s a healthy level of inventory that should allow contractors to be able to sell what they build.

“This market is peeling off a lot of inventory,” Charles said. “If people are going to buy a home and get a deal, they should not wait until July. We are really close to firming up.”

However, he emphasized that some pockets are so glutted with new, empty housing that they won’t see a turnaround for another year. Those areas include Avon and Brownsburg in Hendricks County and Franklin Township in Marion County.