Video Transcription: The facts are all right here in black and white. Right now in this market, sellers are doing cartwheels and popping bottles of champagne while home buyers are literally screaming into their pillows out of frustration. But the good news is that spring has sprung, and there's no denying the fact that the housing market is in full swing. My name is Jason Patton, we are Realtors in Warsaw Indiana, and this is your Kosciusko County Market Minute for May of 2018.
First, let's start off with some good news. Last month in Kosciusko County, 125 new real estate listings came on the market. That's up 45% from the previous month, and it's up 14% year over year. Now, this sort of movement is typical for this time of year, and we expect to see this trend continue throughout the summer months. As far as closed sales are concerned, 89 Kosciusko County real estate transactions made it all the way to the closing table last month. That's up 79% from the previous month, and that's up 29% year over year. But again, this type of movement is fairly typical for Kosciusko County in the spring.
Last month, the medium sale price for a home in Kosciusko County was $150,000. Now, that's up 16% from the previous month and it's up 3.5% year over year, but make no mistake. That number is most assuredly going to rise due in large part to the fact that some of these more expensive lake properties are going to start hitting the market.
And now, let's talk about SUPPLY, which, in my opinion, is the most important metric to track when you're trying to take the temperature of the market. Supply is measured in months, and essentially what it means is if we keep selling homes at the rate that we've been selling them, how long until we run out of homes to sell? So it's been said that six months is a balanced market with no advantage to the seller or the buyer. Supply under six months is a seller's market, and supply over six months is a buyer's market.
Well, let's take a look at where Kosciusko County was last month. So as you can see here, last month, across all price points, we ended up right at 4.5 months of supply, which is a modest seller's advantage. This number is up 2% from the previous month, but it's down 14% year over year. But here's the thing: This number is a little deceiving. Remember, I said that 4.5 months of supply was across all price points. So if you drop it down to houses available under $200,000, WE ONLY HAVE 2.2 months OF SUPPLY IN ALL OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY. And you'll remember I said six months is a balanced market.
So we understand your frustration, and if you're one of those buyers who's banging their head against the wall because they can't find a house under $250,000 without somebody else writing an offer first, I have three pieces of advice for you.
Number one, get pre-approved. Number two, be vigilant and set realistic expectations for how far your money will go in this market. And number three, hire a bulldog buyer's agent to work on your behalf. If you need a referral, we've got an excellent one on our team. Again, my name is Jason Patton. I'm the listing specialist and broker associate with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, the Julie Hall group. If you need anything, please give us a call. We cover all of Kosciusko County and right now there are some GREAT Syracuse Indiana real estate deals! Our number is 800-218-8195. Or email us at sold@juliehallgroup.com. Thank you so much.
