December proved to be another strong month for home sales in the Bluegrass region and capped off an active year in real estate. Residential transactions were up 11% for the month, with 1,021 sales compared to 919 last year while sales were up 2% over the previous month. Single-family sales increased 10% with 952 sales this year compared to 865 last year. Townhouse/condo sales rose to 69 sales compared to 54 in 2023, a 28% increase.
Year-end sales ended up over 2% with 13,030 homes selling during 2024 compared to 12,726 last year. This was the first annual increase in units sold since 2021. Single-family sales were 12,213 versus 11,959 last year, a 2% increase, and townhouse/condo sales were 817 compared to 767 last year, a 7% gain.
New construction sales in December dropped year-over-year by 13% with 91 sales in 2024 compared to 105 in 2023 and ended a five-month streak of gains. From the previous month, new construction sales dropped from 120, a decrease of 32%. For the year, sales ended up 9% for new construction with 1,339 sales compared to 1,230 for 2023.
“The real estate market is moving pretty well as we close out the year,” said Todd Hyatt, president of Bluegrass Realtors®. “Sales are up annually which is nice to see since the pandemic threw everything into unchartered territory. A flurry of activity over recent months has kept prices elevated but available inventory is trending up along with new listings and pending sales for the year.”
The region’s median home price rose to an all-time high for the month of December, reaching $270,000. This was up 7% over last year’s mark of $253,500 but slowed 5% from the previous month. December marked the 70th consecutive month of year-over-year price appreciation. Single-family homes hit a median of $271,500, a 6% increase from the previous year’s $255,000, while townhomes/condos jumped 18% to $257,000 from last year’s $217,500.
For the year, overall median prices rose 8%, reaching $275,000 compared to $255,000 in 2023.
The total volume of real estate sold through the year was just under $4.1 billion, up 11% from 2023, with $319 million of that coming in December, a 23% increase over last year’s $260 million. 2024 became only the third year on record that total housing sales volume broke the $4 billion mark.
Housing inventory moved through the year on a positive streak and ended in December with the highest number of homes available for the month since 2019. Total inventory reached 3,561 properties, a 15% increase over the 3,097 homes available last year but was down 7% from the previous month. December was the seventh consecutive month with inventory remaining over the 3,000 mark. Annually, 2024 was the fourth consecutive year with overall inventory improvements while still ending the year with 40% of the homes that were available a decade ago.
“The growing number of homes available in the market hasn’t really had a slowing effect on home prices," stated Hyatt. “Buyer demand is still healthy, however, national experts are predicting a reduction in price appreciation in 2025, falling somewhere between 2 and 4%. Locally, we will see if that holds true.”
The number of homes coming to market took a hit in December as new listings fell to the second lowest level on record for December. Falling 8% year-over-year, only 812 homes were listed in 2024 compared to 885 a year ago. For the year, however, new listings jumped 9%, to 18,119, up from 16,647 in 2023.
Months of inventory (MOI) had been trending up since the spring, however, the lag in new listings in December took MOI to 3.5, down from the previous month of 3.8, but still up from last year’s 3.4 months. Even with the downturn, December notched the 32nd consecutive month of year-over-year improvement.
In December, homes matched last month for days on market, taking about a month and a half to sell. At 44 days, this is up 13% from 39 last year. The median DOM, year-over-year, was 21 days, up from 17 days in 2023. For the year, homes took an average of 2 more days, or 40 days total, to sell compared to last year’s 38 days.
Pending sales dipped slightly versus the previous year with 824 properties under contract in December compared to 838 in 2023, a drop of less than 2%. The number of pending sales in 2024 finished the year 2% higher than last year with 13,507 contract signings versus 13,232 in 2023.
Hyatt continued, "The market is trending in the right direction overall as we head into the new year. The major statistical categories proved out over 2024 that real estate in the region is slowly returning to a healthy balance for both buyers and sellers. Inventory, along with interest rates, will remain the most important pieces of the puzzle for keeping price appreciation in check.”
The interest rate in December fell for the first time in three months, averaging 6.72%, down slightly from last year’s 6.82% and the previous month of 6.81%. Many experts have updated predictions for 2025, suggesting that interest rates will stay in the mid-6% range for most of the next two years and signaling the Fed may limit the number of rate cuts throughout the year.
As the region’s leading advocate for homeownership, Bluegrass Realtors® understands the value and joy of owning a home. The Association represents more than 4,000 Realtors® located in 38 counties: Anderson, Bath, Bell, Bourbon, Boyle, Casey, Clark, Clay, Elliott, Estill, Fayette, Franklin, Garrard, Harrison, Henry, Jackson, Jessamine, Knox, Laurel, Lee, Lincoln, Madison, McCreary, Menifee, Mercer, Montgomery, Nicholas, Owsley, Powell, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Rowan, Russell, Scott, Shelby, Wayne, Whitley and Woodford counties. Visit www.bluegrassrealtors.com for up-to-the-minute real estate listings and buying and selling resources.