Realtors say local home sales hot in July

Daily Reporter Staff

Published: Friday, August 24, 2007

Though the housing market has cooled considerably in many regions of the country, sales in Central Ohio continue to march along.

Last month, 2,398 homes were sold in the area, representing a five percent increase over the 2,283 sales made in July 2006, according to the Columbus Board of Realtors.

“The increase in home sales last month is good news for both buyers and sellers, said Brad Bennett, president of the CBR.

“Obviously, those sellers whose homes are on the market sigh with relief when sales are increasing,” he added. “But how does this benefit the buyer? When you continue to have more homes for sale than buyers, as we've had for over a year now, home sales prices will flatten.

“Although this works in the buyer's favor in the short term - i.e. the purchase of a home at a very competitive price - the buyer-turned-homeowner then wants to see the value of their home increase. In order for that to happen, the demand and supply need to move more toward a balanced market, which requires either a decrease in housing inventory or an increase in sales. Thus the increase in sales is good news for buyers,” he said.

In addition to the jump in home sales, the number of homes that went into contract last month increased almost two percent over the same month last year, which suggests that sales will increase again in August, according to the CBR.

The average sale price of a home sold in July was $184,521, which is 0.8 percent behind the average sale price recorded during the same period in 2006.

The CBR's Multiple Listing Service serves all of Franklin, Delaware, Fayette, Madison, Morrow and Union Counties and parts of Champagne, Clark, Licking, Fairfield, Knox, Logan, Marion and Pickaway Counties.