Bob Kutschbach, broker and owner of Carleton Realty, talks about the current housing market in Central Ohio.
If you thought that the housing market couldn’t get any hotter….it is!
In the last year the average sale price of a house has gone up to $266,893, a 13.4% increase from this time last year. Median cost for a home is $255,500 which is a 7.4% gain from last year.
Not only are prices on the rise, the amount of inventory to buy is shrinking even more. The number of homes available at the end of February was 1,689. As of today there are only 1,139 currently listed for sale in the Central Ohio market. This represents less than 2 weeks of inventory. The average number of homes that sell in the Central Ohio market ranges from 30,000 – 36,000 units a year, which is about 3,000 a month. This is why we have 10 offers for every home that hits the market and why buyers are having to compete by bidding higher on the available homes.
If you want a historical perspective, 5 years ago we had 5,400 homes that were currently for sale, and that was still low! 3 months worth of inventory is considered a healthy market, not too much of either a buyer’s or seller’s market. 5,400 is considered closer to normal but 8,000 or 9,000 would be healthy. If we go back 10 years ago, coming out of the recession, there were around 15,500 homes for sale. We have a historic all-time low amount of housing inventory for sale.
If you are interested in buying a house you need to make sure that offers are competitive. Make sure that your agent is fully aware of the desires of the seller, what kind of possession they are looking for, what they are willing to fix, and what they will negotiate on so that you have the best chance of having a winning offer. The key for buyers is to be there first! Make sure to be at the property on the first day that it is listed and hopefully the seller will accept your offer before there are too many competing offers driving the price up.
If you are looking for an agent to help you find a home, call us!
