February 2025 Housing Trends in Des Moines

As January fell away, the cold of February set in for the Des Moines metro housing market. Despite the cold temperatures, home sales and inventory continued to show signs of spring, throughout the month. “Cold weather finally descended upon the metro in February, yet the housing market was anything but frozen," Erika Hanson, DMAAR past president, said. "The market metrics illustrate that buyers and sellers weren't afraid of below zero temps when it came to capitalizing on the market” February’s closed home sales jumped by 46 homes from January, an increase just shy of a 1%. Though still a ways off from December’s 955, the number of homes closed will likely increase as the seasonal change into warmer months continues. Pending sales differed slightly from closed sales in February. The 1,026 pending sales of the month represented an 11.4% decrease from the 1,159 pending sales of one year ago, and a 1.5% increase from the 1,010 pending sales of last month.

Active listings experienced a welcome jump, an illustration that sellers were willing to take their chance with cooler temps in an attempt to beat the rush of the spring market. With 3,439 active listings, February recorded a 20.6% increase from the 2,852 homes listed in February 2024. The figure was slightly lower than one month ago, 0.2% from the 3,446 active listings of January. The slight increase from 69 to 73 days on market wasn’t too drastic but the increase in volume of homes currently waiting for buyers means the hopper is beginning to fill in preparation for the arrival of the typically busy spring and summer months. Compared to this time last year, home inventory rose 20.6%, that’s 587 units for a total of 3,439 units. Median sale prices for Des Moines area homes trended upward from $265,000 to $280,000, a 5.6% increase compared to this same time last year. However, the most active home sales were found to be 3 bed, 2 bath homes with a range between $350,000 to $399,999. Considering the median sale price vs the most active homes on the market, the rate of closing may favor homes with less square footage than average during this period. Something that should also be noted is that 43% of all homes were sold within the first 30 days of their listing, and nearly half that quantity of units being sold in the following 31 to 60 days. Out of the total 721 units financed, 476 units were financed through conventional means, making for 66% of homes sold, while 130 or 18% homes were financed through cash. FHA loans made for 7.9% or 57 properties financed.

For additional details and insights into the Des Moines real estate trends in 2025, visit the DMAAR Housing Stats web page.https://www.dmaar.com/news/housing-stats