The Good and The Bad About Columbus Real Estate

Columbus was named the fifth-hardest city in the country to find and buy a home, as reported on Realtor.com.   The website made that determination based upon the number of available listings per household.   The only cities in which it is harder to find homes is (starting with number one): San Jose, CA, Buffalo, NY, Seattle, WA, and Milwaukee, WI.  The tightest real estate markest are the ones with blazing hot job markets – usually tech jobs.   This draws new buyers who all compete for the limited inventory.

Buyers are also clamoring for homes in Columbus, OH. There simply aren’t enough homes to go around.

“When we had the recession, we didn’t build any new houses. [And] we’re still not building enough homes,” says real estate agent Jeff Cotner of Re/Max One in Pickerington, OH, a Columbus suburb. “The inventory shortage is not going to go anywhere for a while.”

That’s bad news for home buyers, but the bad news doesn’t stop there.  The median central Ohio home price rose 8.5% in January compared with a year earlier, while the number of homes listed for sale at the end of January was 10% below a year ago, according to Columbus Realtors.

On the flip side, home sellers are sitting in the driver’s seat.  On average, they see their homes and other real estate investments in central Ohio going up in value and commanding higher sales prices.   Many times homes are sold above asking price before they even hit the MLS, and the trend will continue in the short term.

If you’re in the market to either sell your home, or purchase one, contact Westlake Property Solutions at (614) 423-9747 or [email protected] and we can help.