The first half of 2014 was disappointing. Columbus home sales were down by more than 10% as compared to 2013 and the inventory is not catching up either.
Home values have steadily increased by 5% in Columbus and 18.5% in Dublin. This is certainly good news if you were “underwater” during the past 5 years and are thinking about selling this year.
The cold, long winter virtually halted home sales in February, when pending contracts fell to their lowest level ever. The lack of inventory and low rate of new construction have slowed home sales in the second quarter.
At the same time home values in the suburbs have increased by double digits since the beginning of the year!
So what can you expect for the rest of 2014?
I believe we will catch up in July
Why Columbus Home Sales will Increase in July
Pending contracts are a good indication of the number of closings we can expect the following month. The following chart shows “In Contracts”, i.e. pending home sale,s for the past 3 years.
Last year (blue line) Columbus home sales peaked in May. This year (red line) they continued to rise into June. This means July 2014 home sales will beat 2013.
Here’s a similar graphic for closed home sales. Based on our MLS research, June 2014 homes sales will be close to 2013 numbers (the red line almost catches the blue line in June). We believe it will surpass 2013 in July.
The Inventory of Homes for Sale Decreases Further
The listing inventory on the MLS way below the past 2 years. The first chart shows how the inventory changed since January 2012.
Here you can see a direct comparison of the for sale inventory for the past 3 years. As I write this post, we are approximately 1,800 homes lower than a year ago.
Detailed Housing Data for May 2014
While June data won’t be available till later in July, here are the detailed housing stats for May 2014, as published by Columbus Realtors.
The number of closed sales is down by 11.3% while the average sales price increased by 4.9%. The months supply of inventory is only 3.7 months, which is an indicator of a sellers market.
What’s going on in Dublin
In Dublin homes sales are down by almost 20% from a year ago, while the average sales price shot up by 18.6% surpassing $400,000!
Home Seller Alert
You may have heard the stories of homes selling in a day or two.
I would not count on it.
Homes for sale in lower price ranges in suburban school districts are a hot commodity.
For instance, listings priced between $200K and $300K in Dublin or Powell are in high demand. (That’s the lowest price to get into the Dublin or Olentangy school districts.)
Homes priced above $400K take longer to sell – around 60 days in the current market.