January 15, 2008
Good morning from Cedar Falls,
There is good news for the Cedar Valley when it comes to real estate results for 2007. The sale of detached single family homes as reported thru the monthly sales data prepared by the Multiple Listing Service of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Board of REALTORS® was much better than the sales figures compiled in the rest of the country. Both Waterloo and Cedar Falls showed slight improvement in the increase of the average sale price of detached single family homes. While most of the rest of the nation showed declines of 7% to 10% or more, Waterloo increased almost 6.7% to $ 105,359.16. In Cedar Falls, the average sale price only increased 2.23%, climbing to $ 195,080.04. The Average listing price in Cedar Falls was $ 202,632.40, and in Waterloo it was $109,416.36.
The number of sales fell in both communities. In Waterloo sales fell 7.51% from 959 in 2006 to 887 in 2007. In Cedar Falls, sales dropped from a record high of 516 in 2006 to 478 in 2007, a drop of 7.36%.
Building permits declined slightly in Cedar Falls last year. A total of 198 (130 homes, 68 condos) were built in 2007, as opposed to 214 (133 homes, 81 Condos) in 2006. I was unable to get figures for Waterloo.
As I breakdown the sales by price range, I see 472 homes sold under $ 100,000 in Waterloo and only 44 in Cedar Falls. For homes sold over $ 100,000 there were 415 in Waterloo and 434 in Cedar Falls. For homes over $ 200,000, there were 46 sold in Waterloo and 178 in Cedar Falls.
The base tax rate in Cedar Falls is $ 35.34 in Cedar Falls versus $ 44.11 in Waterloo. That's close to 25%. According to Black Hawk Abstract Company, foreclosures are up slightly in Black Hawk County. They have seen an increase from 274 in 2005, to 343 in 2006 and now 413 in 2007. These small increases are far below the numbers being reported from other parts of the country. Here in the Cedar Valley we are on solid economic footings and low interest rates are readily available to qualified buyers. For 2008, we will continue to see a small decrease in the overall number of sales of 4% to 8% in Waterloo and 3% to 6% in Cedar Falls. Average sale price will continue to increase 5% to 7% in Waterloo but only 2% to 4% in Cedar Falls.
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Best Wishes,
Dick Robert CRB, CRS, GRI
....
WWW.CEDARFALLSREALESTATECO.COM.....
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