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(Des Moines, IA) -- Many high-end properties across the Des Moines metro are listing and selling for more than a million dollars. Rick Wanamaker with Iowa Realty says the trend will continue.
"As long as the population is growing, we're going to have a growth in real estate sales," Wanamaker said. "The future of Des Moines looks very bright."
The metro had a total of 83 homes that sold for a million dollars or more last year according to Wanamaker, surpassed only by 2021, when 86 were sold. This growth is a continuation of a decades-long trend. Back in the mid-2000s, less than a handful of houses would sell at that price each year. He says the current upward trend after the 2008 recession began around 2015 and was peaked by house demand during the past three pandemic years.
"This goes to show though that real estate is a great investment, and a great inflation fighting investment," Wanamaker said. "You don't have to worry about the value of your home going down." He says by comparison, a million dollars will buy a lot of house in Des Moines compared to New York or San Francisco.
The trend of homes selling for more than seven figures is most notable in the suburbs, where more land exists to build new houses. South of Grand remains desirable because of the large historic homes with large lots and old-growth trees.