The Ohio Association of Realtors reported that the first month of summer, May and going into April, showed the highest record of home sales in the state, better than last year’s numbers.
The association said that the state’s housing market has not done this well since May of 1998 when buyers were purchasing nearly 16,000 new and pre-owned homes and condos with an average selling price of around $176,000.
Despite the continually climbing prices of homes across the state buyers are still purchasing homes and competing for the limited supply of available homes and condos they have to offer. The realtors association reported that the sales number from May of last year was just over 3 percent higher but the activity is nearly 2 percent more the following month, and it was predicted that sales for this year in May and April surpassed 152,000 homes which is almost a 3 percent increase from last.
Realtors in communities across the state believe that there will be a rise in listing of homes and condos and that the upward selling trend in this market will continue to move forward.
Statistics show that the average house being sold within an 18 county radius was just shy of $163,000 in May and the average condo sold during the same time was nearly $140,000.
Based on numbers reported by the National Association of Realtors the number of homes old across the county in May as recovered from last year’s numbers, with an upward trend of almost 3 percent from the previous year. Although the report only shows numbers based on previously owned homes that were sold the percent in sales went up by 1.1 percent.
That being said, the national average in sales price for previously owned homes was just over $252,000, which is less than what Ohio’s average is at just under $163,000, which could explain why the state is doing better in the area of home and condo sales than the national average.
Reports also stated that homes that were purchased in May had been listed for sale less than a month which is said to be the least amount of time on the market since realtors began keeping track of their listings almost a decade ago.
Experts in this field say that many factors play into the rise in home sales in the state such as a healthier job market across the country, recent drop in mortgage rates making it easier for homebuyers to purchase a home they want without the address financial stress.
That being said, there are still not many homes categorized in the affordable range, and yet homes continue to fly off the market faster than they become available. This competition in more demand than available homes for sale has realtors seeing homes that are on the market getting several offers. This in turns causes the prices to rise even more and thereby creating even more competition.
