LEXINGTON, Ky. — Bluegrass region housing inventory in June rose above the 3,000 mark for the first time in 2024, reaching 3,065 properties on the market. This is an 18% improvement over the 2,598 homes available last year and the highest June total since 2020. Inventory levels in Central and Southern Kentucky have increased, year-over-year, for eight consecutive months.
The rise in inventory is partially the result of an upward trend in new listings that began in February of this year. June saw a 3% jump in new listings with 1,713 properties compared to 1,669 last year. New properties coming to the market were also slightly higher than the previous month’s total of 1,700 homes and have increased month-over-month since December 2023. Year-to-date, new listings have increased 6%, from 8,509 in 2023 to 9,033 this year.
Months of inventory (MOI) peaked at 2.5 in June and is the first increase of 2024. That is 25% higher than last year when the MOI was 2. June’s MOI increase was the first in 2024 and 14% higher than the previous month.
“Buyers are definitely benefiting from having more selection in the housing market,” said Randy Newsome, president of Bluegrass Realtors®. “Inventory has been a challenge for many years so having several months of increases is good news and will continue to help throughout the summer.”
The rise in inventory didn’t offset median home prices, however, as prices reached $289,900 in June, the highest ever on record, beating last month’s $278,000 by 4%. The June median is also up 12% from last year’s $260,000 and marked the 64th consecutive month of year-over-year price appreciation.
Single-family homes hit a median of $292,000, an 11% increase from the previous year, while townhomes/condos matched last year’s prices at $245,000.
For the year, overall median prices have risen 8%, reaching $271,000 compared to $250,000 in 2023.
The total volume of real estate sold through the first half of the year was just short of $2 billion with $407 million of that coming in June, a 1% increase over last year, but fell 3% from the previous month due to a slowdown in total sales.
“Home prices surged in June,” said Randy Newsome, president of Bluegrass Realtors®. “We expected to see a price jump, however, a double digit increase over last year mirrors the growth we experienced during the pandemic. Sellers are certainly reaping the equity gains from owning in today’s market.”
Residential property sales took a breather in June with 1,218 transactions, a 5% decline from last year and a 7% drop from the previous month. The number of home transactions in June was still the second highest in 2024.
Single-family home sales stood at 1,148, marking a 4% drop over the 1,202 sold in 2023. Townhouse/condo sales decreased by 11% to 70, down from 79 in 2023.
Over the first six months of the year, sales are trailing last year’s total by 2% with 6,199 homes selling in 2024 compared to 6,314 last year.
New construction sales in June rose sharply by 42% year-over-year, with reported sales at 129 versus 91 last year. The monthly total was up 8% over the previous month and was the third highest total in over a year.
With slower sales in June, pending sales dropped, month-over-month, for the first time in 2024, with 1,228 properties under contract versus 1,325 in May, a decrease of 7%. Pending sales, however, did improve 1% over last year with 1,228 properties under contract compared to 1,213 in 2023, which marked the fourth consecutive month with year-over-year increases.
Newsome continued, “Nationally, we are seeing very similar trend lines with a slowdown in sales and prices being up. The difference is that in Central and Southern Kentucky, prices are still considerably lower than what is being reported across the country, which is $426,900.”
The average time for a home to sell dropped to 32 days in June, the same amount of time as last year. 32 days, however, was the lowest average selling time since July last year and was 6 days faster than the previous month when it was 38 days. The median DOM rose, year-over-year, to 9 days from 6 days. Year to date, homes are selling at an average of 41 days, even with last year.
Interest rates in June averaged 6.92%, down slightly from 7.06% the previous month but up slightly from 6.71% last year. The Fed has held firm on its rate so far in 2024 as inflation is running higher than the target rate of 2% so forecasts are maintaining that if rates do drop, it will be towards the end of the year.
