Columbus and Central Ohio January 2012 Residential Homes Sales Report

Posted February 23, 2012

In Columbus, Ohio, real estate, Residential

Better times continue to get better for Columbus and Central Ohio residential real estate as 1,125 sales closed last month, a 6% increase over January 2011. Better yet is that 1,845 residential homes and condos went into contract last month which is a 40% increase over the same month last year according to the Columbus Board of Realtors. Remember though, due to continuing appraisal difficulties and stringent lender requirements and scrutiny, there will be considerable fallout from these in contract numbers so while there will be an increase in closings, it will be no way near 40%

The downside is that prices are still falling as January’s average was down 1.7% to $145,491 versus last January’s $142,977. For prices to start to increase, activity has to increase to the point that inventory starts to fall, which is happening. January 2011 had 9.2 months of unsold inventory and that’s fallen to 6.6 months as of this January.

We should be on our way to a robust year in the Columbus area and Central Ohio, barring maybe a shooting war with Iran and gas prices going to $6 or $7 a gallon or gas prices increasing hugely just because they can in anticipation of a stronger economy. No bigger short term threat to our tepid recovery than gas prices.

Columbus and Central Ohio Sortable Report by City

http://www.10kresearch.com/sortable/Columbus-OH/2012-01/Main.htm

Columbus and Central Ohio MLS Market Report

http://columbusrealtors.com/Uploads/Documents/Stats/Entire-MLSJan12.pdf

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