The September Housing Report by Columbus Realtors has many people excited. Columbus home sales have lagged behind 2013 since the beginning of the year. September is the first month of 2014, when Columbus home sales exceeded last year’s by 1.3%.
A closer look reveals that this gain was mostly due to strong home sales and price increases within the City of Columbus. Most suburbs, however, are down, both in the number of sales and in the average sales price.
The Biggest Losers
Among the biggest losers in terms of closed home sales are:
- Westerville -32%
- Powell -24%
- Dublin -22%
- Worthington – 18%
- Hilliard -16%
Bexley, Pickerington and Reynoldsburg, on the other hand, showed more home sales than a year ago.
We believe that the main reason for the poor performance of suburbs is due to the school year. Many suburban buyers look to move to a certain school district. With schools now in session, there’s less incentive to move.
Columbus MLS Home Sales in September 2014
Overall, closed home sales were up by 1.3% in September (as compared to a year ago), and the average sales price has reached $179,306 (up 2.5%).
New listings also increased by 6.8%.
Buyers may get the upper hand this fall and winter, as ever more homes are being listed for sale, while the buying activity is seasonally slower for the last few months of the year.
Go to Columbus Area Housing Market Statistics to see individual housing data for each Central Ohio County and City.
Here’s the full report.
Dublin Home Sales
The September stats for Dublin are almost opposite of what we saw in the August housing report: the average sales price is down by 16.6% and the number of closed sales is down by 19.7%.
Dublin sellers are confident! The median price of new listings has increased by 27.8% to $418,425, which means that more expensive homes are now on the market and home owners are listing for a higher price.