Central Iowa closed 1,690 home sales in June — 18.7% more than June of last year, and 17.8% more than May. That is not the summer slowdown most people expected, and it is the single most important number in this month's data.
Here's the honest read on what the June numbers show, and what they should change about how you're approaching a move this fall.
DMAAR's June metro report gives us four figures worth knowing:
Most markets trade one for the other. Inventory climbs and sales soften, or inventory tightens and sales hold. Central Iowa did both at once in June — 5.2% more homes available, and 18.7% more of them going under contract and closing.
That combination tells you demand is not the problem here. Buyers who spent the spring waiting on rates and watching inventory build finally moved. The metro absorbed the extra supply and then some.
For sellers, this is the part worth sitting with: a rising active-listing count is not automatically a warning sign. It only becomes one when sales don't keep pace. In June, they more than kept pace.
Days on market dropped meaningfully — 58 days in June versus 66 in May, a 12.1% improvement. That is the normal summer acceleration, and it's real.
But hold it against June 2025's 54 days and the picture is more measured. Homes are moving faster than they were two months ago and slower than they were a year ago. Both things are true, and the sellers who price to the current pace rather than last year's pace are the ones getting clean, on-time closings.
Practically, that means building four to eight weeks of market time into your plan, not two. If your move depends on a specific closing date, that timeline needs to be built backward from the date — not hoped into place.
One piece of context that rarely makes the monthly headlines: a large share of what's "available" in this metro is new construction, and it competes directly with resale listings.
As of the most recent metro-wide breakout — fourth quarter 2025 — new construction accounted for 44% of all available homes in the Des Moines metro, with 983 new homes on the market. That share is down substantially from 68% in late 2021, which means resale buyers genuinely have more options than they did a few years ago. It also means nearly half the competition a resale seller faces comes with a builder's incentive package attached.
New construction made up 22% of all single-family sales in 2025, at an average sale price of $456,350 — well above the metro median. That price gap is exactly why the two segments don't compete evenly at every price point, and why knowing which segment your home actually competes against matters more than a metro-wide average ever will.
The metro closed 2025 at roughly 3.2 months of supply, against a national figure closer to 4.2 months. Central Iowa remains tighter than the country overall, even after two years of steady inventory growth.
That's the structural backdrop behind June's sales jump. There is more to choose from than there was, and still less than most of the country has.
What this means for your strategy: June proved that Central Iowa buyers are active and closing when the price and the timeline are right — so the risk in this market is not weak demand, it's mispricing against a moving average. If you're selling, price to June's 58-day pace and know which segment you're competing with, resale or new construction. If you're buying, the 5.2% inventory gain is real leverage, but it's leverage that gets used up quickly at this absorption rate. If you're investing, a tighter-than-national 3.2 months of supply with rising closed volume is the profile you want underneath a hold.
If you're weighing a move this fall, the useful next step is a straight read on your specific price band and city — the metro number rarely matches what's happening on your street.
Reach out and I'll pull the numbers for your neighborhood and walk you through what they actually mean for your timeline.
Jackson Krile | Flanders Team | RE/MAX Real Estate Center
515.490.8614 · [email protected]
Let's talk through your specific situation — no pressure.