2012 Home Sales in Ohio Jump 12.7%
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Ohio housing market was filled with several positives in 2012 as sales were 12.7% higher than in 2011 and the average sales price jumped 5.5% statewide (READ MAHONING VALLEY RESULTS). Year-end sales of new and existing homes January through December were 114,457 units compared with 101,561 for 2011.
“The Ohio housing market made significant progress in its attempt to fully recover from the economic challenges of the past few years,” said Thomas J. Williams of Austintown, president of the Ohio Association of Realtors. “Our year-end 2012 results are reflective of a marketplace that appears to have regained its footing and returned to traditionally stable levels.”
The average sale price in the state of $134,951 marks a 5.5% increase from the 2011 average. Total dollar volume reached $15.4 billion, a 19.3% increase from a year ago. “The recovery of the Ohio housing market in 2012 was widespread in scope. Seventeen of the 20 markets we track reported gains in sales activity and 18 posted increases in average sales price,” Williams noted. “To have so many individual markets post positives in a state as diverse as Ohio -- with its mix of big urban markets and smaller, rural locales -- is an indication that the Buckeye State has made significant strides in its recovery effort.”
The Realtors’ Housing Market Confidence Index, a survey that tracks the perception Ohio realtors have of the marketplace, offers the following highlights:
- 88% describe the housing market in their area as moderate to strong, a significant increase from the 60% mark the profession posted during the month a year ago.
- 93% of respondents have moderate to strong expectations for their market in the next six months, up 18 percentage points from the January 2012 level of 75%. This month’s realtor Future Market Index reached record-high 63, a 21-point increase from the January 2012.
- 98% of realtors believe home prices over the next year will remain stable and could even post gains, 26 percentage points more than the findings in January 2012.
- Sales in the fourth quarter 2012 increased 17.9%, reaching 27,802 sales compared to the 23,582 sales posted during the period a year ago. It marks the best fourth-quarter results since 2006.
- Sales last month reached 8,390, a 6.6% increase from December 2011. The average sales price of $132,698 was a 7.7% increase from a year earlier.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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