Sales of existing homes in Northwest Indiana surged back in July after showing a drop the previous month.

The Greater Northwest Indiana Association of Realtors, which represents Jasper, Lake, La Porte, Newton, Porter, Pulaski and Starke counties, reported 1,070 closed sales in July, an 8.4 percent increase from July 2017. In June, closed sales totaled 1,152, which was 3.4 percent fewer than the 1,193 closed sales recorded in June 2017.

Median sale prices of homes also reflected an increase. The median price of homes sold in July was $177,000, up 10.6 percent from $160,000 logged the same month a year ago.

The average sale price for homes across the Region in July was $203,677, up 9.6 percent when compared to July 2017. Sellers on average received 96.4 percent of their original list price, a 0.8 percent increase from 95.6 percent recorded in July 2017.

Region home sales year-to-date through July remain ahead of last year’s pace. A total of 6,171 closed sales have been recorded, which is 2.8 percent more than the 6,005 sales when compared to the same period last year.

Available homes on the market continues to fall. The association reported there were 3,682 homes available for sale in July, down 13 percent from 4,230 available homes in July 2017.

New listings also were down in July. A total of 1,402 new listings were logged for the month, down 6.3 percent from July 2017.

Year-to-date new listings through July totaled 8,713, down 5 percent from 9,171 new listings recorded between January and July last year.