Existing housing sales dropped more than 6% in Porter County in 2021 compared to 2020, while other neighboring counties continued to show increases, but the head of the Region’s Realtor association said this actually illustrates how popular Porter County is to homebuyers and potential sellers.
“Porter County is actually very desirable. It’s obviously a very attractive place to live,” said Peter Novak Jr., CEO of the Greater Northwest Indiana Association of Realtors.
Novak said there are several key differences between Porter and the other counties covered by GNIAR, which also includes Lake, LaPorte, Jasper, Newton, Starke and Pulaski. For one, while GNIAR’s new listings were up 6% overall, Porter County’s were down 5%, meaning more Porter County residents were staying in their homes for whatever reason.
He said Porter County had a 0.7 month’s supply of inventory while the counties as a whole had a 0.9 month’s supply.
“This tells me it’s just a matter of inventory in Porter County,” Novak said.
Valparaiso Realtor Matt Evans agreed the lack of inventory is a factor, especially among houses priced under $200,000.
“As a whole nationally, and certainly here locally, there’s a housing supply shortage. We’re still getting multiple offers on properties. We had eight offers on a property under $200,000,” Evans said.
He said the domino effect is another factor causing low inventory.
“You have a person who might consider selling, but can’t find something else to buy,” Evans said, noting that many houses come on the market as owners trade up.
He said building supply and labor shortages are making new home construction take longer than usual, keeping would-be buyers in their current homes longer.
Meanwhile, Porter County residents who are putting their houses on the market are continuing to receive almost 100% of their original asking price, which Novak said is the highest among GNIAR’s seven counties.
The median selling price in Porter County in 2021 was $250,000, almost 6% higher than 2020’s median selling price of $236,000. In comparison, the median sales price in Lake County and the seven counties combined was $215,000 in 2021. This is a 15% increase in Lake County and an almost 12% hike in the combined counties.
“Being a buyer in Porter County is tougher than in other territories,” Novak said.
Lake County posted a 5.8% increase in the number of existing housing units sold in 2021, while the seven counties combined sold 3.4% more units in 2021 than 2020, according to the year-end report.
Jasper County also showed a decrease in year-over-year sales, of almost 11%, but there are far fewer houses sold there than in Lake or Porter counties, which can skew percentages.
Evans said it’s still a buyer’s market in Porter County, with increasing selling prices and continued low inventory, but said the market should improve in the spring.
“At some point people will cash out, either because it’s job-related, investors cashing out or other reasons,” Evans said.
Karen Caffarini is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
