Columbus and Central Ohio December 2011 Residential Homes Sales Report

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Columbus and Central Ohio had 19,956 single-family and condo home sales during the year 2011. There were 19,700 residential home sales in 2010.  2011 was only 1.3 percent behind 2010 according to the Columbus Board of REALTORS®.  Remember that we had the Home Buyer Tax Credit in effect for the first six months of 2010, which artificially inflated home sales.  The average sales price in 2011 was $156,428, which is down 2.2% from the average of $160,020.

“We were neck and neck with 2010 home sales going into December,” said Jim Coridan, 2012 President of the Columbus Board of REALTORS®. “But sales fell flat during the holidays so we ended the year just over one percent below the previous year.”

December, however, was a dud with homes sales in Central Ohio were 1,347 for the month and that’s down by 8.9% from December 2010.

Unsold inventory continues to fall with 11,398 homes on the market.  That’s about 6.6 months of unsold inventory, which is about ideal for a balanced market.  Homes spent about 100 days on the market.  Unsold inventory had hit as high as 12.5 months in November 2008.

I can’t find the numbers regarding homes going into contract, but that number is somewhat misleading due to the relatively high number falling out of contact due to appraisal and lending issues.

If we don’t have gas prices rocket up due to an expected military conflict with Iran or some other catastrophic event, we should see a healthy balanced market as we go into 2012.

http://www.10kresearch.com/sortable/Columbus-OH/2011-12/Main.htm

http://www.10kresearch.com/sortable/Columbus-OH/2011-12/Entire-MLS.pdf