Indianapolis Home Builders

Optimism about the Indianapolis Real Estate industry is spreading throughout the media. Below is an article from wthr.com that further details the current sentiment in the real estate industry discussed in yesterday's Estridge blog post, Predictions prove positive for Indianapolis Real Estate in 2009.

Updated: Jan 9, 2009 09:29 AM EST

Lynsay Clutter/ Eyewitness News

http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?s=9644610

Indianapolis- The housing market is hurting across the country, but there is hope here in Indiana, with signs of improvement.

Foreclosure rates began to plateau at the end of the third quarter, and housing inventory is starting to decrease, leading local realtors to believe the market is on its way to correcting itself.

It is a hopeful sign, but it's going to be a long road.

In the 9 Counties of Central Indiana, Colliers Turley Martin Tucker's reports, home closings fell 11% in 2008, the average home price fell 5% and building permits fell 37%.

Foreclosures helped contribute to the problem by flooding the market with inventory. Indiana ranked 6th highest in the nation with 30,800 mortgages in foreclosure.

The Indiana Builders Association says high home inventory and falling home values are at the core of the current economic crisis.

With no demand in the market, at least two local builders, Gunstra and Davis Homes, recently closed their doors.

"Home builders create a lot of jobs going to and from the job every day, and also the ripple effect. Someone who buys a new home, buys furniture at the furniture stores, appliances and the appliance stores, and draperies, and everything that goes into a new house. That all helps stimulate the economy and create jobs for folks around the state of Indiana," said Rick Wadja, Indiana Home Builders Association.

Wadja was in Washington DC Wednesday asking Indiana's local delegation for help. Builders want a package of subsidies included in Obama's Economic Stimulus that would bring mortgage rates to just under 3% for the first half of the year.