Homes Selling at Brisk Pace

Low interest rates and comparably mild weather helped make the first month of 2016 strong in terms of home sales. Karen Stailey-Lander, president of the Bloomington-Normal Association of Realtors, says the closing of the Mitsubishi plant has so far not impacted the housing market. "I'm really not sure that it's going to significantly. In fact, so many times when a large business like that closes down then you see a lot of excess inventory of housing on the market, and we are not seeing that at all." The number of homes that changed hands during January was 30% above January of 2015. Housing inventory is up a bit at 968 dwellings. December's number, 901 homes, was the lowest in Bloomington-Normal in a half decade. The average price of a home sold last month was $154,000, down $10,000 from one year ago, with existing homes leading the decline.