The inventory of homes for sale has dropped by 47.3% in January as compared to a year ago. However, demand for housing has never been higher.

My newest listing had 50 showings in 3 days. And more buyers scheduled to see the house yesterday.

You are probably wondering how you can successfully win a bidding war when buyers are willing to pay more than list price?

How to Avoid Bidding Wars

If you are not ready to compete in a bidding war new construction offers an excellent alternative.

Many buyers believe they can’t afford to build new. So, I did some research and compared the cost of existing homes to new construction listings.

What I discovered may surprise you.

In many popular school districts new built homes are less expensive than existing homes.

Newly Built vs Existing Home Listings

The next 5 tables show active listings in 5 school districts (as of Saturday 2/6/21). You can see existing and new construction listings for both single family homes (SFH) and condos.

The tables show the average Sqft of all properties listed for sale and the average list price per square foot ($/Sqft).

The yellow rows show by how much (%) the Sqft and $/Sqft of new built listings differ from existing listings.

For instance, the cost per sqft ($/Sqft) of new built single family homes in Dublin is 16.3% higher than that of existing homes.

In Hilliard, the cost per sqft is 2.3% lower, which means it is less expensive to build new than to buy an existing home.

Key Findings of my Research

  • In the Hilliard, Olentangy, and Buckeye Valley School Districts it is less expensive to build a new single family home than to buy an existing one. In Buckeye Valley it’s substantially cheaper.
  • New construction condos are more expensive than existing ones (except in Buckeye Valley Schools).
  • New single family homes are smaller (Sqft) than existing homes, while new condos are much larger.

You can see that quite a few new built homes and condos are listed for sale in Olentangy and Buckeye Valley. They make up around 50% of all listings.

There are hardly any new built homes listed in Hilliard.

Keep in mind that not all new construction homes are listed on the MLS. Most new homes and condos listed on the MLS are inventory homes. They are ready to move into within a few months and an excellent opportunity to buy a new home without having to wait for 8 months or more.

For a list of inventory homes & new subdivisions call or text me TODAY at (614) 975-9650!