The Columbus Board of Realtors released the following article yesterday suggesting the continued bright future for a housing market comeback in Central Ohio.  As most of our readers know, a good portion of our law practice is spent representing real estate brokers, agents, and their clients in transactions, disputes, with complaints, and in litigation.  A good attorney is both easy and important to find!  Here’s the CBR article:

November marks the fifth consecutive month of increased home sales in central Ohio this year after the first half of the year struggled to keep up with increased sales from 2010 due to the home buyer tax credits.  According to the Columbus Board of REALTORS®, 1,406 homes sold in November which is seven percent more than the previous year.

Additionally, the number of residential homes scheduled to close was up over 37 percent, from 1,341 last year to 1,843 last month (November 2011).

“We’re finding that sellers recognize the challenges of today’s market and are realistically pricing their homes to sell,” says Rick Benjamin, 2011 President of the Columbus Board of REALTORS®. “Buyers are responding well to the pricing and, of course, the record low interest rates. It’s still a great time to buy a home.”

Homes in central Ohio this year have sold for an average of $157,032, down 2.5 percent from the average sale price in 2010, but up over five percent from the average sale price in the first quarter of 2011. The average price of a home sold in November was $153,673, up 3.1 percent from the previous month ($149,082).

The number of homes listed for sale last month (1,949) is 20 percent less than listings added to the market in November 2010 (2,439). The total inventory of homes available for sale in central Ohio was 12,675 at the end of November, which is down 27.5 percent from one year ago.

As a result, the month’s supply, a measure of inventory that estimates how many months it would take to sell the entire home inventory, fell 28.5 percent to 7.4, down from 10.3 last year.

“A healthy months supply for our market would be around 6.5. So the decrease in inventory is a positive sign of market recovery,” adds Benjamin. “Plus, based on the concept of supply and demand, when we  have too many homes on the market, homes are more likely to sell for
less.”

We love hearing positive news about the return of the housing market in Central Ohio and across the state.  Kaltenbach Law, LLC is cheering for an even better 2012!