COLUMBUS, Ohio – Home sales were lower in January, but a significant increase in the number of For Sale signs going up in the Columbus area was an encouraging sign, according to the Columbus Board of Realtors.
The 1,317 homes and condos sold in January was a 6 percent decrease from January 2014 and a 32 drop from December, according to data released Monday by the board, which blames sluggish sales on a drop in inventory over the past year.
However, the number of home listed for sale last month was a 51 percent jump over December and a 4.8 percent increase from January 2014.
“This is a significant increase in the number of new listings for central Ohio. And this is definitely a much more dramatic increase than we usually see. People are usually slow to put their house on the market after the holidays, but these numbers indicate people aren’t wasting any time,” board president Kathy Shiflet said.
The number of homes sold across Ohio in January rose 4.2 percent from the level posted during the month a year ago, the state’s fifth consecutive monthly year-over-year gain, but was 6.2 percent below sales in December, according to the Ohio Association of Realtors.
The median sale price of a home in central Ohio was 11.5 percent higher than January 2014 at $141,500.
January’s average home price of $137,464 in Ohio reflects an 8 percent increase from January last year.