2015 New Construction Market To Finish Strong

Although, not all December market numbers were in when writing this article, every indicator points to the 2015 new construction market finishing with very nice gains over 2014. The Des Moines metro’s new construction market has seen double-digit growth in unit sales, volume sales and active inventory volume which is very impressive. While inventory levels also have had nice gains in unit counts, we’ve experienced a double-digit reduction in the average days on market!

In November, closed sales were down 5.1% and pending sales were up at 14.8% over November of 2014.

The average sale price of a new construction home in November was $310,000, which is up $7,000 from last year! The average price per square foot for the month of November was $178, compared to $169 to last year at this time.

The overall market had 848 single-family homes for sale in the month of November, which is up 0.5% compared to last month and up 9.4% compared to last year at this time.

The number of single-family homes closed in the month of November was 95 units, which is down 35.4% compared to the last month and down 11.2% compared to one year ago.

79 single-family units went pending in the month of November, which is down 36.8% compared to last month and down 10.2% compared to last year.

The overall multi-family market had 189 units for sale in the month of November which is up 2.7% compared to the last month and down 1% compared to one year ago.

Multi-family homes had 26 closed units in November, which was the same as compared to last month and up 62.5% compared to last year.

16 units went pending in November, which is down 23.8% compared to the last month and down 30.4% compared to last year.

Top New Construction Metro Markets Include:

  1. Ankeny
  2. Waukee
  3. West Des Moines
  4. Grimes
  5. Urbandale
  6. Norwalk

In summary, the 2015 metro new construction market has seen an increase in unit sales, volume sales, inventory levels and a reduction in days on market, all of these signs demonstrate improvement in both supply and demand. This leads me to believe the 2016 new construction market is positioned well to continue to build upon these metrics in 2016.

For more detailed information on new construction market data, please feel free to contact me!

Kelly Gibson is New Homes Manager at Iowa Realty. Kelly can be reached at 515-453-6706 or klgibson@iowarealty.com.