… except of mine. I knew since the beginning of this year that July 2011 will be celebrated as the month when home sales explode in Columbus Ohio.
It seems that most local news organizations don’t realize that we are in the midst of a substantial turn-around.
I listened to a reporter on NBC4 the other day presenting the latest housing news: “Home sales in July down by 3% nationwide, Columbus saw an increase in sales of 23%.”
That’s all they said. No explanation. No cheers.
Wouldn’t you celebrate, if sales increased by 23%?
Isn’t this the biggest increase in home sales in 10 years?
As usual, the numbers are out of context. Columbus home sales may be down 3% from the previous month – that’s not unusual. Over the years June has been one of the strongest months of the year, while July is a little slower.
Increase of The Year
The 23% increase is year over year, comparing July 2010 home sales to July 2011. We predicted this substantial increase weeks ago. It’s simply due to the fact that the home buyer tax credit ended in June 2010, and the Columbus housing market came to a virtual standstill during the second half of 2010.
We’ve been selling homes without the tax credit for more than a year, now. People are still buying!
Most buyers don’t believe me when I tell them that the inventory of HUD and Fannie Mae homes has shrunk considerably for 6 months. There is not enough supply to satisfy the demand of owner occupant buyers.
Take a closer look at the sale stats published by the Board of Realtors last week.
C-Bus Real Estate Market
All numbers are positive and clearly indicate an upswing in the Columbus real estate market. Not only did home sales increase by 23%, but pending contracts skyrocketed by 50%, the average and median sales prices were higher, and so were listing prices.
On the other hand the number of new and total listings and the months supply of inventory decreased by roughly 20%. These are all strong indicators of a coming buyers market.
Shouldn’t we celebrate this substantial improvement?
When unemployment goes down by one tenth of a percent the media celebrates a robust recovery. When home sales improve by 23% the media laments the month-to-month decrease in sales.
We automatically expect negative housing data, so we miss this incredible turn-around and the boost in home sales that occured in July.