July may have been cooler than usual temperature-wise, but the Northwest Indiana market stayed hot with an increase in sales and pricing, reports Jeanne Sommer, broker/owner of CENTURY 21 Alliance Group in Valparaiso, IN.

The Valparaiso-based real estate agency has seen a significant increase in activity this year, with more showings and sales.

“Our office had the highest number of showings and monthly sales for July in the past six years,” Sommer said.

Both Lake and Porter County had increased home sales, decreased days on the market and a higher average price in the past seven months when compared to the same time period in 2012. In fact, Lake and Porter Counties saw a continued increase in residential sales, up 26% for Lake and 24% for Porter over last year.


The number of single-family existing home sales was up from 2,424 in Lake County in 2012 to 3,045 in 2013 and from 988 in Porter County to 1,228. Meanwhile, the average sales price on single-family homes rose from $133,588 to $135,267 in Lake County and from $182,158 to $187,042 in Porter County.

In addition, the number of days a property was listed on the market was down from 140 last year in Lake County to 121 this year, while Porter County saw a decrease from 147 to 133. All data was provided by the Greater Northwest Indiana Association of Realtors and calculated from January 1 to July 31 in 2013 and compared to January 1 to July 31 in 2012.
 
For more information on the latest local real estate data, contact CENTURY 21 Alliance Group at 219.462.2090.