There have been reports that the housing market has seen lots of attention, especially during the pandemic, but is that true of every place in America?

Amanda Bills is a realtor with Jefferson Iowa Realty and says the local housing market in Greene County actually remained stable over the past two years. She tells Raccoon Valley Radio they sold 101 homes in 2020 and 100 homes in 2021. Bills talks about the cause and effect of the housing market nationally.

“If you look at the east and west coasts, things happen overnight there. Here, it’s kind of a ripple effect, you’ll have a big splash in their real estate market – big waves there – the waves get smaller, and smaller, and smaller as they move here to central Iowa. So things don’t hit us as quick and it’s not as drastic as an effect here.”     

Bills says she was surprised that the local housing market continued to remain stable throughout the pandemic.

“I thought we would have an increased amount of sells and in the opposition, I think with the global pandemic, you have people wanting to be homeowners but at the same time you have sellers not wanting to sell. They want to hold onto their property.”  

Bills points out the housing market is still moving upward and homes are selling faster, with an average of 45 days after a home goes on the market and it is sold, which is a dramatic decrease previously when the average time a home was on the market was 90 days. She hopes that with the Federal Reserve incrementally increasing the interest rates on home loans that the housing market continues to remain stable and not see a drastic slow down in people wanting to buy and sell their homes.