Terri Larson, Iowa City Area Association of Realtors

CORALVILLE – The number of pending home sales in the Iowa City-Coralville-North Liberty market is almost twice as large so far this year as it was during the same period of 2010.

Terri Larson, president of the Iowa City Area Association of Realtors, said there were 99 home sales pending in the market as of Wednesday, compared with 52 on the same date last year.

“To us, pending home sales is a very important figure and it puts us in a much better position than where we were a year ago,” Larson said Thursday at the organization’s annual media briefing.

“The average sale price of a home in Iowa City, Coralville and North Liberty was $179,750 in the first six months of this year, up slightly from $177,978 in the first six months of 2010. The average sale price of a home in June was $191,897, up from $181,109 in June of last year.”

Larson noted that there were fewer homes sold in the Iowa City-Coralville-North Liberty market  in the first six months of 2011 than in the comparable period last year, which she attributed to the federal first-time homebuyer tax credit that inflated sales last year.

The Iowa City Area Association of Realtors reported that 1,065 homes were sold between Jan. 1 and June 30, down from 1,358 properties that were sold in the first six months of 2010.

While the National Association of Realtors says banks are still reluctant to approve mortgages, Larson said banks serving the  the Iowa City-Coralville-North Liberty market have been approving more mortgages.

“The lenders in our area have created in-house mortgage programs that make them a lot easier to work with,” Larson said. “Where the national standards have become more stringent, the local lenders have made it easier.”

Larson said the in-house programs retain the mortgage locally, rather than selling it to the secondary market. The latter has tightened its standards after incurring numerous mortgage defaults in recent years.

Home sales data for June 2011 and June 2010 and the first six months of both years were not available Thursday from the Cedar Rapids Area Association of Realtors.