HOME SALES HAVE SHOWN ‘REMARKABLE RESILIENCY’

Nationally, July was best month for sales since 2006, second straight month of record increases.

Locally and nationally, home sales in July showed surprising strength.

Sales of existing homes across the country jumped 24.7 percent last month, after a 20.7 percent increase in June. Both of those were record increases.

Nationally, July was the best month for existing home sales since December 2006, PNC Financial observed.

Across the state of Ohio in July, sales rose 8.6 percent compared to July 2019.

“The Ohio housing marketplace displayed remarkable resiliency in July – with both the level of sales activity and average price (posting) robust results,” Chris Reese, Ohio Realtors president, said in a statement.

And there was good news locally.

The 1,773 sales for July – up more than 6 percent – produced

a cumulative sales volume of more than $366 million, an increase of over 16 percent compared to last year, according to the Dayton Realtors trade association.

While the month of June saw all-time high figures locally in average and median sales prices, July improved on that.

July’s average sales price totaled $206,750, beating last year’s figure by percent. The median price at $180,000 also beat last year’s mark by 9 percent.

Gus Faucher, economist for PNC Financial, sees housing as a pillar of strength in a growing economy.

“After years of slow sales following the housing market bust, demand for homes was good and increasing ahead of the coronavirus pandemic, and many of those potential buyers have come now back into the market,” Faucher said in a note to PNC clients. “Record-low mortgage rates have boosted demand. And it could be that the pandemic has increased demand for single-family living.”

However, he added: “The big question is whether supply will be large enough to meet demand. Strong sales will support solid price gains for existing homes over the medium term.”

Supply was tighter locally. Listings submitted in July declined, with 2,011 entries, a 1.7 percent drop from July 2019’s 1,668, Dayton Realtors said.

For the January-July period, 11,481 listings were entered, down from last year by 8 percent.

The January-July average sales price increased by more than 8 percent to $190,812, while the median price ticked up more than 9% to $165,000, Dayton Realtors said.