Housing market in Valley improves in sales, prices

By Don Shilling

GM transfers to the Valley are helping the market, a real estate agent said.

The Mahoning Valley housing market improved last month but still remained behind June 2007.

“It’s headed in the right direction,” said Kathy Carroll, president of the Youngstown Columbiana Association of Realtors, which provided figures on home sales.

Mahoning County had the most improvement last month among local counties. Mahoning County recorded 181 closings on single-family homes last month, up from 144 in May. The number lagged the 210 closings recorded in June 2007.

The average selling price for homes followed the same pattern — up from May but down from a year earlier. The county’s average selling price last month was $93,148, compared with $91,467 in May and $108,800 in June 2007.

Closings generally occur about 30 days after a real estate deal is reached.

Carroll said activity has been increasing for all types of homes priced up to about $200,000.

She said the workers being transferred to the General Motors plant in Lordstown have helped the market. She said she has worked with home buyers who said their homes that had been on the market were bought by GM workers.

“It’s a good shot in the arm,” she said.

She added, however, that it will take some time for the market to return to where it was a year ago. Foreclosures are still occurring, which is putting homes on the market that are being offered at discounts, she said.

Columbiana County also had an improvement from May. The county had 80 closings last month, compared with 55 in May. The county also had 80 closings in June 2007.

The average selling price in June was $90,724. This was an increase from May’s average of $85,500 but a drop from the average in June 2007 of $111,904.

Trumbull County’s numbers were mixed. The number of closings was down, while the average selling price was up.

The county recorded 132 closings last month, compared with 136 in May and 158 in June 2007.

The average selling price last month was $95,904, compared with $88,854 in May and $93,600 in June 2007.

shilling@vindy.com