Tyler 2013 home sales rosy

TYLER – The Tyler area saw a record year in home sales in 2013, trampling 2006, the last year more than 3,600 houses were sold in the area, by nearly 2 percent.

The Greater Tyler Association of Realtors (GTAR) reported 3,685 homes sold last year. That’s a 9.38 percent hike from the 3,369 homes sold from January through December 2012.

The 2013 sales trumped 2006 by 1.74 percent, when 3,622 houses sold, according to records kept by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.

There were 3,595 homes sold in the Tyler area in 2007, followed by a steady decline until the area saw an uptick in 2012, when 3,162 homes sold.

“I think overall, the economy is just better,” Jason Gregory, president of the Greater Tyler Association of Realtors, said of the increased home sales. “I think overall, people are spending money.”

The median home price for the area in 2013 was $144,700, a 4.48 percent jump from the year before, when the median price of a local residential property was $138,500.

Read more at the Tyler Morning Telegraph.