Last week I received a voice message from an angry homeowner. He accused me of FAKE NEWS after he received my postcard saying that the median sales price skyrocketed by 12.4%.

Sorry, pal. It’s true. Columbus Realtors housing stats show that the median has increased by 12.4% in April … and prices have been going up for 72 months in a row.

Shattering the Glass Ceiling

Only 2 years ago the average sales price could not break through a glass ceiling of $230,000 (see light blue line in the chart below).

At that time, we assumed we reached the peak.

That was 2 years ago. In May 2019 the average price of homes sold in Columbus shattered all records. It reached $253,531. Its highest level yet. That’s 7.8% higher than a year ago.

Although ever rising home values are great for sellers, they impact the affordability for buyers.

Fortunately, mortgage interest rates have declined in the past month. You can get financing for below 4% again, and the Fed indicated it may even lower their benchmark lending rate.

My Observations About Today’s HOT Market

Home sales in some suburbs have declined substantially in May. Dublin (Corp) was down 10.3%, Hilliard (Corp) down 38.1%, Grandview Heights down 18.8%. It appears the drop-in sales is a direct result of a declining number of new listings in these areas.

Ranch homes are most popular. Yesterday I showed a one-story house in Hilliard listed for $180/sqft and another one in Galloway for $160/sqft. The average price per sqft is $147 in Hilliard and $125 in Galloway.

In the past 4 days 498 new listings appeared on the MLS. Sounds like a lot, but it’s not enough to recover from the acute inventory shortage. At that rate (125 new listings a day) we would lag behind last year’s number of new listings for June.

This market update covers May 2019 sales. Homes sold in May were probably listed in March or April when most buyers were aggressively looking for a new home. We are now entering the summer season. Families are on vacation and don’t spend as much time house hunting. You will see less traffic and fewer showing requests for your listing.

Columbus is still the 4th Hottest Real Estate Market in the country. According to the Realtor.com Market Hotness Index, 43230 (Gahanna), 43235 (Worthington), and 43228 (West Columbus) are the hottest Zip codes in the Columbus Metro. The coolest ones are New Lexington (43764) and Crooksville (43731).​

May 2019 Housing Stats

Click this link to see detailed May 2019 Housing Data.

Here are the highlights (numbers compared to the same month a year ago):

  • Closed Transactions – 3,226 – UP by 5.6%
  • Pending Contracts – 3,952 – DOWN by 1.6%
  • Inventory for Sale – 4,467 – DOWN by 0.1%
  • New Listings – 4,397 – UP by 0.1%
  • Days on Market – 28 – UP by 3.7%
  • Average Sales Price – $253,531 – UP by 7.8%

​​Call or text me TODAY at (614) 975-9650, and don’t miss any opportunity in today’s hot housing market!