Could you sell a house faster at a higher price now? Kentucky sale data suggests yes
Lexington’s real estate market has bounced back strong after initially suffering the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Lexington-Bluegrass Association of Realtors.
Home sales in Kentucky’s second-largest city this September increased 18 percent compared to September 2019. The median sale price for a Lexington home was $240,000 in September, a 13 percent increase compared to last year, according to the Lexington-Bluegrass Association of Realtors.
The high numbers helped bring Lexington within 1 percent of last year’s sales totals through September. At the end of September 2019, there had been 3,875 homes sold. The total after September this year was 3,870, according to the Realtors association.
“Fayette County has rebounded from the initial lag of the pandemic with sales exceeding anyone’s expectations,” said Greg Buchanan, president of the Realtors association. “The biggest challenge, generally, is the lack of inventory. Prices are climbing faster than normal because there is not enough supply to support the demand.”
The lack of inventory caused a 29 percent decrease in the average number of days that a home spent on the market compared to September 2019. New listings were also down 10 percent. It’s projected that it would take just over a month for every house on the market in Lexington at the end of September to sell, according to the Lexington-Bluegrass Association of Realtors. That projection was about 2.6 months at the end of September 2019.
The average number of days on the market drops to under two weeks for homes priced between $160,000 and $250,000.
Land shortages inside Fayette have made it difficult to construct homes in needed numbers, Buchanan said. As a result, the surrounding areas of Central Kentucky have outperformed Lexington recently, Buchanan said.
“Central Kentucky is definitely a sought after place to be in the country, and that is likely to heat up even more as people are evaluating their personal situations through this new ‘normal’ we are all experiencing,” he said. “We are in a spot where a conversation about regional growth needs to occur, and we are certainly ready to be at that table.”
In the Realtors association’s 26 Central Kentucky counties, the number of days a house was on the market dropped 14 percent in September compared to the same month last year.
Central Kentucky isn’t the only region of the state seeing strong rebounds in the housing market. Home sales increased statewide for a third-straight month in August, according to the most recent report from Kentucky Realtors.
A total of 5,475 closings took place across Kentucky in August, according to Kentucky Realtors, an association of 11,600 Realtors across the state. The total sales in August were up from one year ago by 7 percent, and the year-to-date number of sales reached 35,705, which was up 4 percent compared to 2019, according to Kentucky Realtors.
“Home sales continue to amaze, and there are plenty of buyers in the pipeline ready to enter the market,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said in a statement.
The median sale price for homes in Kentucky this year has been $187,238, a 9 percent increase compared to last year’s data. The median price of homes in August alone jumped to $199,900, according to Kentucky Realtors.
“Distressed sales” were down almost 80 percent in August compared to August 2019, according to Kentucky Realtors. “Distressed sales” include foreclosures and short sales.
The number of days a home spends on the market in Kentucky has increased significantly in 2020. The average time spent on the market in 2020 has been 161 days, a 47 percent increase compared to 2019, according to Kentucky Realtors.
This story was originally published October 14, 2020 at 3:49 PM.