Commonly recognized as one of the more affluent suburbs of the capital city of Indianapolis, Carmel, Indiana, lies in Hamilton County, just northeast of the city. Home prices in the area had risen exponentially in recent years as larger and more elaborate homes were constructed in a building frenzy catering to the high demand for Carmel homes for sale in the area. This community, with the highest median household income of any city in the state, however, when the financial crisis attacked the U.S. economy, bringing down the housing market with it, Carmel found itself burdened by the aftershocks.

Hamilton County administration building IMG_7004In January 2010, according to the Indianapolis Star, sales were down 21.7 percent in Hamilton County, more than Indianapolis's 18% and more than the state's average of just over 1%.   According to the Carmel Real Estate Guide, that figure floated back up a bit in the month of February within Carmel, where there were 54 closed sales for the month, down by just one from February 2009's 55 and up from 52 sales in the previous month of January. Of these 54 sales in Carmel in February, two were for homes priced at over $1 million, 10 were priced between $500,000 and $1 million, and the rest were for less than $500,0

Homes for sale on the Carmel real estate market in February spent an average of 117 days on the market before selling, up from an average of 98.1 days in January, and the average price was just over $360,800, down from over $392,000 the previous month. In the beginning of March, there were 13 foreclosed homes up for sale on the market. Looking back at 2009, the average sales price in Hamilton County was just over $229,000, down by 6.7% from 2008, according to FC Tucker, an area realtor.  Listings in December 2009 in Hamilton County were down 12.5% from a year earlier, a sign showing that some of the excess inventory may be beginning to clear out.

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