Bartholomew County’s housing market has become sizzling hot over the past year as demand outpaces supply, driving prices to record highs — with more than half of homes in the county now selling for more than the asking price.
In the eight years before the pandemic struck, the percentage of homes in Bartholomew County that sold for more than the list price rarely exceeded 20% per month, according to data from the real estate brokerage Redfin.
Local experts say the housing market in Bartholomew County had seen strong demand and low inventory in the run-up to the pandemic, but the public-health emergency accelerated some of these trends, encouraging more people to look for the additional space of a single-family home, particularly given historically low mortgage rates.
At the same time, the number of houses on the market drastically shrunk as many would-be sellers decided to stay put or were reluctant to have people in their homes for showings.
The end results are unlike anything local real estate agents have ever seen.
The number of homes for sale per month in Bartholomew County plummeted to 57 this past April, the lowest among data going back to January 2012 and down from 169 in April 2020, according to Redfin.
The median time on the market also has declined in Bartholomew County, from 59 days in January 2020 to six days this past April.
Overall, the median sale price of a single-family residential property in Bartholomew County rocketed to $234,000 in March, up from $201,000 the same month the year before — a 16% increase, according to Redfin.
In May, the median sale price was up about 24% compared to May 2020, said Jessica Risacher, managing broker of the F.C. Tucker Company office in Columbus and North Vernon.
“This year, it just got into a massive bidding war,” Risacher said. “…Buyers are desperate, so they’re throwing everything they have at sellers.”
‘Unheard of’
The desperation is so real that local Realtors are seeing buyers make concessions that were “unheard of” before the pandemic, including forgoing home inspections, paying for the seller’s closing costs and forking out upwards of $10,000 to $20,000 more than the appraised value — just to remain competitive.
“It’s probably the weirdest thing going on,” said Will Wagner, broker-owner of Dean Wagner Realtors in Columbus.
“It’s fairly common that we sell houses for 10% over the list price now,” Wagner added later in the interview. “…If somebody would have told us five years ago that would be happening here, I would have said, ‘No way.’”
Additionally, would-be buyers who got laid off last year are now back on the job and in the market for a new home, further contributing to the surge in demand, Risacher said.
And housing inventory isn’t keeping pace.
“These houses are staying on the market for not even a day,” she said.
Wagner, for his part, described similar situations.
“We’ll list the house today, someone will look at it today and send us a full-price offer that they want a response by this evening,” Wagner said. “…Usually, we’re selling stuff in under three or four days right now.”
National frenzy
The red-hot nature of the local housing market echoes trends seen across the country.
The coronavirus outbreak forced millions of Americans to work from home and it has curtailed other activities such as eating out, going to movies or visiting gyms, according to wire reports. That’s leading more people to seek out homes with more room for a home office, a bigger kitchen, or space to work out.
Home prices rose in March at the fastest pace in more than seven years, according to the AP. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index jumped 13.3% that month compared with a year earlier — the biggest such gain since December 2013. That price surge followed a 12% year-over-year jump in February.
The plummeting supply of homes on the market could lead to a rash of people building their own homes, though soaring lumber prices and a shortage of construction-ready land could limit home builders’ ability to capitalize on the strong housing market trends.
The price of lumber in the U.S. has gone up more than 300% since April 2020, “causing the average price of new single-family home to increase by nearly $36,000,” according to the National Association of Home Builders.
Earlier this week, the Indiana Builders Association attributed part of the price increase to “the pandemic’s disruption of labor supplies in saw mills and ports.”
But that hasn’t stopped people in from breaking ground.
New home construction in the U.S. reached a 15-year high in March, according to wire reports.
Locally, 97 permits were issued to build single-family residences in Columbus from January to May of this year, up from 35 during the same period in 2020, according to county records.
Permits in the county doubled over the same time period, from 14 in 2020 to 29 this year.
‘Through the roof’
However, the red-hot housing market is not only affecting those wanting to buy or sell.
Home assessments in Columbus Township, which includes the city of Columbus, jumped 10% last year, said Bartholomew County Assessor Ginny Whipple.
Some went up hundreds of thousands of dollars, including one property in Harrison Lake that shot up $424,200, and another in Grandview that increased $248,300, county records show.
Other properties, including some in Hope, saw lower but significant increases, including some that went up around $10,000.
“They’re through the roof,” Whipple said. “We typically see a 4% to 6% increase.”
Assessments are based off of market conditions, including sale price, and are done on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis.
An increase in assessed value could impact the amount of property tax owed and whether some individuals age 65 and up qualify for a tax deduction that is capped at an assessed value of $200,000.
Residents who believe their assessment is too high should call the assessor’s office before June 15, Whipple said.
Overall, the total sum of all home sales in Columbus Township went up 21% last year compared to 2019, despite only a 7% increase in the number of sales, Whipple said.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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“It’s fairly common that we sell houses for 10% over the list price now. If somebody would have told us five years ago that would be happening here, I would have said, ‘No way.’”
— Will Wagner, broker-owner of Dean Wagner Realtors in Columbus
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