By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – Home sales in the Twin Cities have been sluggish to start the year, but realtors expect a healthy 2018 thanks to a larger supply of homes.

President of the Bloomington-Normal Association of Realtors John Armstrong said this is the first time in nearly a year that more than 600 local homes are on the market.

“We have to have the selection in order for buyers to move forward with purchasing a house and fortunately as we head into spring it looks like the inventory is going to be at a normal level that Bloomington-Normal is used to having,” Armstrong said.

Armstrong added homeowners have been slower to put their homes on the market since the housing bubble burst a decade ago, keeping prices down until last year’s recent rise.

“I think a lot of people were afraid to move and historically when I first got in the business 22 years ago, people were moving every six years,” Armstrong said. “That was because they were having home gains and prices were going up and they were having equity in their homes.”

Home sales were down 27 percent compared to least year, which Armstrong blames mostly on the weather.

The average price of a new home sold in Bloomignton-Normal averaged $164,000 in January, which marks a five-percent increase over last year.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].