The number of homes sold in Iowa increased again in April. The Iowa Association of Realtors (IAR) reports two-thousand-606 (2,606) homes were sold last month. That’s just 22 more than in April of 2011, but association president Dale Gross, of Atlantic, says it marks the “eighth or ninth” consecutive month of increased sales. “It’s not up much, but it continues in the same direction,” Gross said. He noted the first four months of 2012 marked the strongest first quarter in terms of homes sold in Iowa since 2007. The median sale price of a home in Iowa last month was $124,375. That’s an increase of 8.2% over the previous year.

“People are beginning to think that the dream of home ownership is affordable with our low interest rates, so they’re stepping up and buying a home,” Gross said. The April report from the IAR shows the average home stayed on the market for 112 days before being sold. That’s up just one day over last year. The inventory of homes being sold, statewide, dropped from roughly 23,000 in April 2011 to just over 21,000 this year.

(Pat Curtis/Radio Iowa)