Friday, February 27, 2015

CENTRAL OHIO REAL ESTATE MARKET NEWS........

Central Ohio Housing Report - January 2015
New listings on the rise in central Ohio

There were 2,283 central Ohio homes and condos listed for sale in January 2015, a 51 percent jump over the previous month and a 4.8 percent increase from January 2014, according to the Columbus REALTORS® Multiple Listing Service (MLS).

“This is a significant increase in the number of new listings for central Ohio,” Columbus REALTORS® 2015 President Kathy Shiflet said. “And this is definitely a much more dramatic increase than we usually see. People are usually slow to put their house on the market after the holidays, but these numbers indicate people aren’t wasting any time.”

The additional inventory brought the total number of homes and condos for sale to 7,048, which just trails December by two percent and is still a decrease of 14.9 percent from the previous year.

“Although inventory is still slightly down, more homeowners are realizing the elevated demand which currently exists,” Shiflet said. “This is a positive indication that the tight selection of inventory will quickly be changing in the coming months.”

“Given that sales prices have continued to trend upward over the last year and buyer interest continues to grow as well, we’re anticipating a very active spring in 2015.”

The average sales price of a home during the month of January was $175,692, which is a 10.6 percent gain over 2014. The average price is the total volume divided by the number of homes sold.

There were 1,317 homes and condos sold in January 2015, which is a decrease of six percent from January 2014 and a 32 percent decrease from the previous month. Fewer sales are due primarily to the drop in inventory over the past year.

On a national level, existing home sales are forecasted to rise about seven percent in 2015, behind a strengthening economy, solid job gains and an increase in home prices, according to National Association of REALTORS® Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.

“First-time buyers are expected to slowly return as the economy improves and new mortgage products are made available in the marketplace with low down payments and private mortgage insurance," Yun said.

According to the latest Housing Market Confidence Index (by the Ohio Association of REALTORS®) 95 percent of central Ohio REALTORS® describe the current housing market as moderate to strong and 91 percent expect housing prices to rise over the next year.

Sixty-four percent of central Ohio REALTORS® indicated that they have seen a slight to significant increase in the level of interest renters have expressed in buying; 32 percent said that they have seen no change and 4 percent said they have seen a slight decrease.

Current housing report – January 2014
All housing reports

Columbus REALTORS® is comprised of over 6,500 real estate professionals engaged in residential sales and leasing, commercial sales and leasing, property management, appraisal, consultation, real estate syndication, land development and more.

The Columbus REALTORS® Multiple Listing Service (MLS) serves all of Franklin, Delaware, Fayette, Licking, Madison, Morrow, Pickaway and Union Counties and parts of Athens, Champaign, Clark, Clinton, Fairfield, Hocking, Knox, Logan, Marion, Muskingum, Perry and Ross Counties.

To view commercial properties for sale or lease in central Ohio, visitwww.COCIE.org.
To view residential properties for sale, visitwww.Realtor.com.

Source:  Columbus REALTORS®