If you live on planet earth I’m sure you’ve seen and heard all about the “mortgage meltdown” and the “real estate bubble.” You hardly have to watch tv for more than a couple minutes and this topic is covered in great detail. The only problem is that the story isn’t covered in great detail.

While the mortgage issues are nationwide, the real estate “bubble” issues are not as widespread. Of course, this isn’t covered because it doesn’t sell. I got in touch with Brett Fine and asked him about how the downtown market was doing this summer compared with last summer. I wanted to know if the market downtown had tanked like all the markets we see on tv. I knew the answer, but I wanted the numbers to prove it!

So here they are. Do you want to know how the downtown Des Moines loft, condo, flat and brownstone market is? These are not the rental figures (rent demand is through the roof), these are the sales figures.In August of 2007 there were 13 sales downtown. In August of 2006 there were…………13 sales downtown. Arghhhh, what a huge downturn!!!

These numbers do fluctuate a little more, but I’m told it’s because of Mulberry Lofts coming on the market last year, and dominating things with 43 units sold. This year there is 111 City and Ingersoll Square on the way so the year end numbers will change quite a bit.

May through August of 2006 saw 50 units close downtown. The same period in 2007 saw 29 units close. When those other properties come available I would imagine that the 2007 numbers will actually jump quite a bit. Why? Because in 2006 there were 60 total sales downtown, and so far in 2007 there have been 43.

There you have it. The raw data about the current state of the downtown market. Of course I would love for you to move downtown, and it’s a great time to do just that. If you’d like to see some of the available properties, or you would like to talk to an expert about moving, I highly recommend you speaking with Brett Fine. He’s the local downtown expert, which is why we’ve partnered with him on this site. Of course, you can contact me as well if you’re more comfortable with that.