Official September Housing Stats released – Silver lining? Home values continue to rise

Next month's October's Numbers will be the spooky ones.

Released today from the Columbus Board of Realtors with less of the overly-optimistic jagon we’re used to….

Home values continue to rise which is good news for central Ohio. The average sale price for the first nine

months of the year is $161,204 up 7.4 percent from the beginning of 2010 according to the Columbus Board of REALTORS®.

There were fewer homes listed for sale last month than is customary for September. Over the last five years,

there was an average of 3,710 homes added to the market during the month of September. However, last

month only 2,997 residential homes were added to the already elevated inventory in central Ohio.

Although slightly lower than August, the total residential listings in September (16,728) was still higher than

it’s been since August of 2008 when the inventory level rose to 16,975.

“Inventory levels had come down over the last year and a half – which is what we were working towards,” said

Sue Lusk-Gleich, President of the Columbus Board of REALTORS®. “When inventory levels are too high, the

increased competition forces some homeowners to sell at prices that are too low which in turn often affects

the values of other neighboring homes.”

“In order to re-balance the market, we either need the inventory to decrease or the number of buyers to increase.

And since the tax credit incentives brought many buyers into the market earlier than we would have seen

otherwise, we have a smaller pool of potential home buyers to absorb the inventory now.”

Home sales were down 28.4 percent in September and the number of homes that went into contract was also down

almost 25 percent which doesn’t bode went for October home sales.

“When comparing sales figures to the previous year, we need to remember that home sales have been elevated

since April of 2008 due to the tax credits,” adds Lusk-Gleich. “Even so, sales are still up four percent year to date.”

EDIT: I received an email from a reader saying this post didn’t jive with the Story in The Columbus Dispatch which quoted the The Ohio Association of Realtors as saying, “The situation wasn’t as bad in central Ohio, the group’s figures show, as the average price fell 1.9 percent during September to $156,897.” and pointed out that , “This is a huge discrepancy.”

Yes, but all I’ve heard on the radio or saw on the news was OAR and National Association of Realtors numbers and quotes. Even as I type this our local NPR station is playing an interview with the president of OAR who reminds us that all real estate is local and different numbers in different parts of the country mean different things.

The reader’s OAR quote was Central Ohio specific but I don’t know what OAR considers Central Ohio compared to CBR considers Central Ohio.  Numbers, as we all know, can be conveniently manipulated. That’s why it’s important to talk to an informed Real Estate Agent about your community.

Indeed, the Columbus Real Estate market is not the Ohio Real Estate market just as your local neighborhood real estate market is not the same as the Columbus Real Estate market. Discrepancies abound and if you’re buying or selling a house in a targeted area, that is the only market that matters to you.

The Columbus Board of REALTORS® Multiple Listing Service (MLS) serves all of Franklin, Delaware, Fayette,

Madison, Morrow, Pickaway and Union Counties and parts of Champagne, Clark, Hocking, Licking, Fairfield, Knox,

Logan, Marion, and Ross Counties.

The Olde Towne East Real Estate Market Right Now

It’s been a sometimes tough couple of year’s for real estate in and around Olde Towne East.  Let’s take a look at what happened in Olde Towne East, Woodland Park, and Franklin Park Real Estate this Summer from June 1 – Today.

Mt Vernon to Main Street, I-71 to Neslon Road….

This gorgeous 3 bed, 2 bath 2576 sf home on Wilson ave, listed at $249,900 is currently in contract.

As usual, glean what you can from these market statistics. Olde Towne East is still a hit and miss neighborhood so when you start averaging sales together for varying degrees of homes for sale and varying levels of move-in readiness, it begins to mean very little. Your best bet? Come over to Olde Towne East, get out of your car, walk around and marvel at what was once home to Columbus’ richest and most powerful families.

Homes on the market: As of today there are 121 Active Near East Columbus homes for sale.

• Averaging 2,160 sf,
• $136,707  list price
• $59.35 $/sf and
• 149 days on market.

Currently, there are 21 Near East side Homes in Contract

–contingent on financing/inspections as of today: 12 Including the beautiful 39 West Franklin Park last listed at $299,900 as well as three condos a few foreclosures…

• Averaging 2239 sf
• $89,431 list price
• $37.12/sf
• 185  days on market

Olde Towne East Homes Firmly In Contract passed inspection period as of today: 9

• Averaging 1752 sf
• $90,233 list price
• $55.39 $/sf
• 59  days on market

Olde Towne East area Homes Closed from June 1 – Sept 15: 32

• Averaging 2004 sf
• $85,746 avg List but a $82,252 Sale price or 96%
• $31.67 $/sf
• 89 days on market – these numbers would seem to indicate a mere 4 month supply of homes, not really indicative of the true market place.
• 5 New Builds in the North of Broad project on North 20th and 21st sold this summer with two others currently in contract.
  

Olde Towne East area Homes in contract with escape clausesthat a prospective buyer could conceivably swoop in and buy : 0