By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – Bloomington-Normal overcame a steep drop in new home construction in 2016 to see modest year-to-year gains in home sales.

The Bloomington-Normal Association of Realtors reports 2,829 home sales last year, which marks a 2.8 percent increase over 2015. New homes were down 14 percent of 166.

“It’s been a challenging several years but the good news is we are up two to three percent overall,” said President Ed Neaves. “The pre-existing home marker is stable and strong in McLean County.”

Neaves noted new construction has fallen sharply from a peak of nearly 1,000 homes a decade ago. He said new regulations and the increasing cost of building materials are making new homes more expensive.

“A new construction house puts $82,000 into the economy when it closes. It employs 100 people during the time it is being built,” Neaves said. “When you go from 1,000 houses a year to 166 houses, there’s a lot of people that don’t have jobs. That money does not go into the economy and it has a trickle-down effect.”

Pre-existing home sales increased 3.6 percent last year.

Home sales volume rose two percent to $485 million in 2016.

Foreclosures

The CoreLogic National Foreclosure report showed Bloomington-Normal’s foreclosure rate dropped four percent from October 2015 to October 2016. While the rate reductions were slower than the state and national trends, Bloomington-Normal’s overall foreclosure rate is much lower than state and national averages.

“The bankers do a very good job of qualifying the buyers and making sure they are getting into a loan product they can afford.” Neaves said.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].