From Boom and Bust and Back Again
John Fischbach, a broker and president of Louisville’s Multiple Listing Service Board for the Greater Louisville Association of Realtors, says price stability contributed to the 20 percent increase in home sales during the first two months of this year.
Luxury home sales, priced from $500,000-$600,000, almost tripled, even if entry level volume was flat.
“It’s a buyer’s market in that rates are low, a 30-year mortgage is around 4 percent and selection is 10 percent better than last year,” says Fischbach.
Another bright spot is building permits, which were 33 percent higher in the January-February period than a year ago.
What’s going to drive Louisville’s market going forward?
Fischbach notes the increasing numbers of new families and growth of cornerstone businesses in the city, including UPS , Zappos.com andFord Motor.
Equally encouraging but perhaps less tangible is a development in the real estate industry itself. More real estate agents are getting into the market, says Louise Miller, president of theGreater Louisville Board of Realtors.
“They feel they can make a living, and are pulling their licenses out of escrow," she says. "They feel things are coming back.”
Miller herself may be a good barometer. She has 11 properties listed to go on the market within the next eight weeks. Last year at this time she had four.
A sense of mission has returned.
“I get up, and have a million things to do, work 12 hours and then do it the next day,” she says. “It motivates me, because I like being busy."
