Area homes sell fast at high prices

Demand for central Ohio homes shows little sign of waning as the peak selling season winds down.

Eager buyers pushed prices to new highs and snatched up homes in record time during August, while overall sales rose less than 1 percent from a year ago.

The median sales price of a Columbus-area home jumped 6.9 percent to $185,000, a record high for the month and a full $50,000 above the median sales price six years earlier.

Central Ohio homes sold in August after being listed an average of 27 days, down from 34 days a year earlier to a record fast pace.

“Homes have been selling in less than a month this summer,” said Mic Gordon, president of the Columbus Realtors trade group. “This is the fastest they’ve ever sold, as buyers are wasting no time seizing an opportunity to purchase a home.”

Prices and sales pace continue to be driven by a shortage of available homes. Homeowners staying in their homes longer, slow recovery for new construction and strong demand from buyers have combined to keep homes off the Sales Median price Days on market Akron/Cleveland Cincinnati Dayton Toledo 3,223 $173,125 34

Sales in other Ohio cities: market at a record level.

At the end of August, 5,444 homes were listed in central Ohio, 13 percent fewer than a year ago. At the current rate, all homes on the market would sell in less than two months if no new homes were added.

Statewide, sales rose 4.2 percent from a year ago to a record high for August while prices climbed 6.2 percent, led by double-digit gains in the Dayton and Mansfield areas.

Nationally, sales slipped for the fourth time in five months, as the shortage of homes kept buyers at bay. At the end of August, 1.88 million U.S. homes were listed, 6.5 percent below a year earlier.

National sales numbers marked “an unimpressive end to what should have been a red-hot spring/summer selling season,” Zillow chief economist Svenja Gudell said in a news release.

“Given the strength of the job market, favorable demographics and rock-bottom mortgage interest rates that make buying a home very affordable, the existing homesales market should be roaring instead of whimpering. All those factors that should be acting as tailwinds may be present, but they’re being overwhelmed by the simple fact that there are just very few homes actually available to buy.”