HOME SALES

to $180,000. For the first 11 months of 2017, prices are up 6.5 percent.

Prices continue to benefit from a shortage of homes for sale. At the end of November, 4,588 homes were listed in central Ohio, 15 percent fewer than a year ago and less than half the number for sale four years earlier. The number of central Ohio homes on the market has fallen for almost seven consecutive years.

In addition to pushing up prices, the short supply has also pushed buyers to grab homes quickly. Homes that sold in November had been listed an average of 36 days, compared with 42 a year ago.

Across the nation, home sales jumped 5.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.81 million in November, the highest pace

Central Ohio Sales Median price Days on market

2,304 $171,375 42

Sales in other Ohio cities Akron/Cleveland 3,640 Cincinnati 1,872 Dayton 1,201 Toledo 643 since December 2006.

“Faster economic growth in recent quarters, the booming stock market and continuous job gains are fueling substantial demand for buying a home as 2017 comes to an end,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the National Association of Realtors.

National home prices rose 5.8 percent from a year ago, the 69th straight month of yearover-year price gains.

Yun cautioned that rising interest rates and escalating prices could push young shoppers out of the market in 2018. First-time buyers accounted for 29 percent of national home sales in November, down from 32 percent a year earlier and well below the traditional 39 to 40 percent, according to the National Association of Realtors.