COLUMBUS – A slump in home sales at the end of the year indicated that, in central Ohio as in the nation as a whole, a red-hot real estate market was showing signs of cooling down.
Rising prices, low inventory and the threat of higher mortgage interest rates kept buyers on the sidelines late in 2018, causing year-to-year sales to decline for the first time since 2014, according to data released Tuesday by Columbus Realtors.
The 9.2-percent drop in sales from December 2017 to December 2018 contributed to an overall 2.2 percent decline from 2017.
Areas with largest sales increases (2017-18)
Valleyview +46.7%
Lithopolis +33.3%
Grandview +22%
Granville +18.4%
Washington CH +13.4%
Minerva Park +10.9%
Source: Columbus Realtors
Although inventory was up 6.8 percent from the year before, 2018 ended with the second lowest number of homes for sale on record.
Areas with largest median price increases (2017-18)
Whitehall +14.9%
Downtown Columbus +13%
Grandview Hts +10.9%
Miami Trace SD ”
Washington CH ”
Source: Columbus Realtors
The median sales price of a single-family home was up 7.7 percent compared to last year, continuing a steady climb that began in 2012. Between February 2012 and last September, national home prices rose 53 percent, a trend that observers believe will be almost impossible to maintain, though they predict prices will continue to increase in 2019.