A review of the Iowa City area residential new construction market statistics for the first quarter of the year reveals that North Liberty continues to lead the way in unit sales, reporting 66% of the overall new home sales in the area, while Iowa City maintained a 14.6% market share with Coralville-Tiffin closing 12.1% of sales and the remaining outlying areas enjoying a 7.3% share of the new home market.  North Liberty’s sales amounted to 50% of all the new houses and 69% of all new condos sold, with no change in overall unit sales, when compared to 2009.  Overall unit sales in the market dropped by 18%, compared with 2009.

Of all closed new house sales, 81% were under $300,000, while 88% of condos sold were under $250,000.  House sales dropped by 11% and condo sales by 22% from last year, as condo sales represented about 60% of the unit sales.  In home sales, ranch style homes amounted to 56% of all sales. 

Lowered inventory levels present a challenge to a recovering residential new construction market, with house inventories down 34% – from 138 to 91 and condo inventories down 33% – from 209 to 140 since 12/31/2009.  Entry level and move-up home inventories must be replenished to keep residential new construction growing, as reliance on upper end home and condo sales has not been proven successful in area markets in recent years.

A family-owned company since 1862, Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS annually sells approximately 3,400 homes in eastern Iowa, western Illinois and southwestern Wisconsin.  Caroline Ruhl is the President and owner of Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS, and is the fourth generation of the Ruhl family to lead the residential brokerage and home services company.  Headquartered in Davenport, Iowa, the company has 250 sales associates and 50 employees based in sales offices located in Bettendorf, Bellevue, Clinton, Coralville, Davenport, DeWitt, Dubuque, Maquoketa, and Muscatine, in Iowa, and in Moline, Illinois.  In addition to residential sales, Ruhl&Ruhl offers services in relocation, new home sales, farm sales, senior services, real estate investment, property management and mortgage services through 1862 Mortgage.  For more information on Ruhl&Ruhl, visit their website at www.RuhlHomes.com .