Greater Columbus Area Market Trends

(April 18, 2007) After nine consecutive months of negative home price appreciation, central Ohio home prices are again headed in the right direction. The average price of a home sold in March was $168,586, up 2.3 percent from one year ago according to the Columbus Board of REALTORS®.

"The average price of a home was up 2.0 percent in February and now 2.3% in March," said Brad Bennett, President of the Columbus Board of REALTORS®. "As 2006 was the only year on record where the average home price appreciation fell, the turnaround is a welcome relief to all home owners."

Although January home sales were up 12.2 percent, February sales fell almost two percent and March sales followed up with a drop of 16.1 percent from last year. Year to date, there have been 5,101 home sales in the first quarter, down 4.6 percent from 2006.

"We anticipated the drop in closings for March," says Bennett. "It's a direct reflection of the record low temperatures and snow emergencies we experienced back in January and early February which kept most of us indoors as much as possible. As a result, home showing activity and consequently offers to purchase homes dropped significantly."

There were 5,200 homes listed in March, up almost one percent from last year. This puts the number of residential homes for sale at 17,699 which is 10.7 percent higher than were on the market at the end of first quarter 2006.

According to Bennett, "we added over 52 percent more homes to the market in March as compared to February. This is partly due to the traditional 'coming out' season, but also due again to the weather in February which put the chill on listing activity as well."
 
"Now is definitely a great time to buy a home. There is an excellent selection of homes to choose from and interest rates are still very competitive. And real estate is unquestionably the best long term investment," adds Bennett.

(March 21, 2007) Central Ohio home sales last month were down almost two percent from the year before. The 1,549 homes sold was 1.9 percent lower than the 1,579 homes sold in February of 2006, but 2.6 percent higher than In January according to the Columbus Board of REALTORS®. 

“The drop in sales can be directly attributed to the December holidays,” says Brad Bennett, President of the Columbus Board of REALTORS®. “Most homes are in contract from four to six weeks before closing. So contracts written just before Christmas through New Years, would be closing in the first half of February. But less than one-third of the February closings took place in the first half of the month."

"Over 70 percent (1102 closings) took place in the second half of the month which reflects contract activity in the first couple weeks of January, after the holidays and while we experienced unseasonably nice weather conditions.”

Year to date, home sales are almost four percent ahead of last year. And 2006 sales in the first two months were nine percent higher than the year before. "So, when we say sales are up - they truly are," adds Bennett.

Fewer homes were added to the market in February. The number of new listings added (3,417) was 17 percent fewer than in January and 15.5 percent less than in February last year. Sellers who have their homes listed should be pleased by this news.

"Currently, we have significantly more homes on the market than buyers," explains Bennett. "As a direct result, homes are taking up to 25 percent more time to sell and selling for about two percent less than they would have one year ago. Adding a great number of additional homes each month doesn't help the situation."

"We continue to seek more buyers. With the high number of homes, motivated sellers and such competitive interest rates, anyone even considering buying a home would be negligent not to look at the market right now. They could miss out on the deal of the decade."