Spring is officially here and that means March Madness! While the Buckeyes' championship dreams were prematurely dashed in an overtime stunner, the Bobcats carried Ohio's torch to the second round with a major upset over the defending national champs.
Meanwhile, in the world of real estate, not much has changed. Home inventory remains at an all-time low and is only getting lower. In February, just 2,047 new listings hit the market, a 17% decrease from last year.
But unlike previous low inventory years, home demand in Central Ohio remains incredibly high resulting in what some would call an "inventory crisis". Much of this has to do with historically low interest rates, and will only be exacerbated by Congress' new $15,000 first-time home buyer credit.
February ended with just 1,689 total homes on the market, down 48% from February 2020. Even more alarming is that inventory levels a year ago (pre COVID) were already near all-time lows, which makes current inventory unprecedentedly low. The number of homes currently on the market is down 69% compared to 2016 and down an shocking 89% compared to 2011.
Michael Jones, Columbus REALTORS® President recently stated, “We’ve never seen inventory this low before. As a result, housing is moving at a frenzied pace and we’re seeing multiple offers and offers over asking price. Buyers interested in winning the bid need to be prepared and move quickly.”
With all that said, there is hope in sight. As the vaccine roll-out continues, we suspect more homeowners, who have held off on selling, will decide to put their homes in the market. In addition, the BIA of Central Ohio reported 11,864 housing permits were obtained by builders in 2020, a 46% increase from 2019.
In other news, we are very excited to announce that CommonCents is growing! After exclusively serving Central Ohio for the past 3 years, we are now offering our flat-fee home listing service to Northeast Ohio, including Cleveland, Akron, Canton, Youngstown, and surrounding communities. We look forward to expanding our reach northward in our mission to help homeowners across the state save thousands of dollars in real estate commissions.
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