Springfield named among top 5 hot housing markets in the U.S.

When it comes to the national housing market Springfield isn’t just hot – it’s on fire.

Coming in at No. 5 on USA Today’s top 20 U.S. housing markets, homes in Clark County are averaging 3.7 views, are on the market for an average of 26 days and are maintaining a median home price of $145,000.

USA Today states the top 20 hottest markets were determined based on the number of unique views per property and the number of days a listing stayed active on Realtor.com in March of 2021. Homes in these 20 markets received up to four times the number of views per listing compared to the national average and are selling 23 to 44 days more quickly than the typical property in the United States overall. 

Brock Bowen, president of the Springfield Board of Realtors and business partner at Team Horne-Bowen: Coldwell Banker Heritage, says the City of Springfield and the Greater Springfield Partnership have worked hard to bring people to the community.

“We have still managed to keep the housing affordable here, from taxes to the overall cost of living,” Bowen says. “As we see growth, (the market) will continue to stay strong, but part of what is driving our market is the shortage in inventory.”

The Springfield area is in the same position as last year, maintaining the same volume from March 2020 to March 2021, Bowen says.

“The price per house has gone up, but not drastically,” he says. “Realtors are working the market hard to keep it this way.”

Bowen says home inventory in Springfield and Clark County is low due to more buyers than sellers.

“We have all-time low interest rates, and when you have that going for you, it will continue to drive people into the marketplace that want to go to the next upgrade,” Bowen says. “The problem is we don’t have sellers. We have a lot of buyers that won’t sell because they can’t find what they are looking for, so they aren’t going to list their house. It’s kind of a ripple effect. We need new development in our area.”

Bowen says nationally the cost of building supplies are through the roof, and people who are building custom homes have stopped and are waiting for supply costs to go down.

“When you have a custom built home, it frees up another home for someone,” he says. “But when these people are delaying custom builds, it takes a house out of inventory. We aren’t seeing the inventory catch up.

“The market is going to remain hot as long as the interest rates remain low. It’s a hard market to be a buyer or a seller.”

Bowen says it can be a challenging market for realtors also, as they are writing numerous offers on most properties. But, while it can be difficult when a deal doesn’t go through, for local realtors, it just means there is still work that has to be done.

“(Buyers and sellers) want to use a realtor. Realtors know the comparables, and cash offers set the market price,” Bowen says.

Home values in Springfield and Clark County have remained consistent or are climbing, he says.

“We typically would carry 200 to 300 active listings in Clark County. Most are pending,” Bowen says. “When we would have had 50 pending, we would have had 250 on the market. We have now flip-flopped. That’s what drives the market. When you have that much inventory and a new one comes up, that’s what makes it hot.”

Bowen also says commuters have become more common buyers in the housing market.

“A lot of people are coming back home partly due to COVID-19 and the ability to work from home with less commuting,” he says. “We are a rural community; we are focused on our downtown area growth and small rural community growth. People like that small town growth.”