The October housing report for Columbus Ohio beat most expectations. Home sales were up by 9.9% and the average sales price has increased by 6.7% (that’s compared to a year ago). This continued the upward home sales trend that started in September.
Year to date, 2014 is still lagging behind 2013 by 2.8%.
In terms of units sold, this has been a down-year for real estate, so far.
But there are good news. The time to sell the average home (days on market/DOM) is down to only 60 days – a clear indication of a sellers market. And the total supply of homes for sale will only last 3.8 months.
Fewer home owners decided to list their house this fall. The number of new listings entered into the MLS during the month of October is 8.1% lower than a year ago. This is an important metric of future home sales during the slow winter selling season.
According to Milt Lustnauer, President of Columbus Realtors, “The decrease in inventory is a customary reaction to the dropping temperature. Consumers tend to be preoccupied around the holidays and not focused on listing their homes. So it’s actually a prime time to put your home on the market.”
National Home Sales Data
Nationwide home sales have dropped every month since November 2013. The chart below shows the change in the number of transactions for each month as compared to a year earlier.
You can clearly see that home sales increased continuously since the recovery started in 2012. Since November 2013 and throughout most of 2014 the number of transactions per month was lower than during the previous year.
September 2014 was the first month when home sales kept up with last year’s pace. It looks like we reached the turn around point.
Here is a link to the complete October National Housing Report.
Dublin Home Sales
In Dublin 22.6% more homes sold in October than a year ago. The average price is slightly lower at around $330K. This marks a turn-around from September, when home sales dropped substantially in many suburbs.
On an annual basis Dublin home sales are almost 5% behind a year ago.
You can read the full report here.
It is encouraging to see that more property owners put their homes on the market in Dublin. While the total MLS shows a decline in the number of listings, Dublin’s number have increased substantially (by 40.3%).
101 new sellers listed their homes with a Realtor in October hoping to beat the slow winter months. Considering this week’s record breaking freeze, they may not have succeeded …