The housing market has posted gains for 27 straight months
YOUNGSTOWN
The number of homes sold in the Mahoning Valley and across Ohio increased 18.9 percent in September compared with the same month a year ago as the housing market as a whole has posted gains in activity for 27- consecutive months.
“The Ohio housing market has taken another step forward in its continuing effort to overcome the economic challenges that shook the very foundation of the American dream a few years ago,” said Thomas J. Williams, president of the Ohio Association of Realtors.
“The fact that we now have posted 27-straight months of year-over-year sales gains — our longest stretch of uninterrupted gains in 16 years of tracking Ohio’s sales activity — is a good indication that we’re making progress in building a sustainable, growing marketplace,” said Williams, of Howland.
Locally, he said that overall there has been a gradual increase in sales over the past 12 to 18 months and noted that local increases are “on a par with the rest of the state.”
He said sale prices in Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties are up, and in some areas there is a shortage of housing inventory.
According to OAR, the number of sales in the state through the first nine months of 2013 reached 99,585, a 17.7 percent increase from the 84,614 sales posted during the same period a year ago.
The average home-sale price during January through September this year is $143,462, a 5.8 percent increase from the $135,652 mark set during the period a year ago.
In the Northeast Ohio Real Estate Exchange, which includes several counties, including Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull, 3,534 units were sold the first nine months of the year compared with 3,070 for the same period in 2012, an increase of 15.1 percent.
Likewise, dollar volume of sales was $478,114,680 through September of this year compared with $404,831,872 for the same period last year, an increase of 18.1 percent; and last year, the average sale price was $131,867 compared with $135,290 for the same period this year, an increase of 2.6 percent, according to OAR.
Total dollar volume this year is nearly $14.3 billion, a 24.5 percent increase from the nine-month mark of a year ago of about $11.5 billion. Also, OAR reported, sales in September reached 11,269, an 18.9 percent increase from the 9,480 sales posted during the month a year ago.
The September 2013 sales total is the month’s best mark since 2006. The average sale price of $140,986 is a 2 percent increase from the $138,187 average price posted in September 2012.
Similarly, home sales during the third quarter, July through September, reached their highest level of the year and best quarterly mark since second quarter 2007.
Sales activity in the third quarter 2013 reached 38,273, a 20.8 percent increase from the same three-month period a year ago when the market recorded 31,682 closings. The average sale price in third quarter 2013 is $149,580, 4.3 percent ahead of the same quarter a year ago, and the highest average sale price since the third quarter of 2007, according to OAR.