Eight less houses were sold in January this year compared to January 2014. (WJBC file photo)

By Adam Studzinski

BLOOMINGTON – Overall home sales were down last month in the Twin Cities, but not by much.

107 homes were sold in January compared to 115 in January 2014, representing a 7 percent decrease. Bloomington-Normal Association of Realtors president Amanda Wycoff was not at all concerned.

"What I'm finding wonderful is the pending sales are up from last January by 15 percent," said Wycoff. "That's the pendings; those are the offers written."

Wycoff added the total of new homes sold actually increased from five to seven.

"When you decide to build, basically, that puts $82,000 into our local economy," said Wycoff. "When you decide not to then we have about 140 laborers, who are very skilled, who don't have that job."

Wycoff said the average over all price of homes in the area went up by 8.3 percent, which is good news for local sellers. More good news for sellers was the fact there is a low amount of inventory right now.

"We only have 1,010 homes on the market," said Wycoff. "We had inventory around that low number in the summer of 2013. I remember that, it was definitely a seller's market."

Wycoff said she's extremely excited to see what the numbers end up being in February.

Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].