Home sales rose in March, but market lags 2010 in Northeast Ohio, nationwide
Posted on July 22nd, 2011
Home sales jumped in Northeast Ohio and across the country from February to March, but the housing market – perhaps bogged down by cold, soggy weather – isn’t heating up to last year’s levels.
Statewide sales of new and existing homes jumped 43.8 percent from February to March, according to a report out Wednesday from the Ohio Association of Realtors.
But sales were down 8.2 percent from March 2010, when a popular federal income-tax credit was enticing buyers.
Across 15 Northeast Ohio counties, sales of single-family homes spiked by 52.4 percent from February but dropped 7.3 percent from March 2010. Condo sales – a much smaller part of the market – rose 47.7 percent from February and were up 9 percent from a year before, according to a local real estate listing service.
More potential buyers are considering deals, stopping by open houses and signing contracts, local Realtors say. But that activity won’t show up in housing reports for several months. Analysts expect slow, steady improvement in sales throughout 2011.
“Everybody that I’m talking to is saying the same thing: ‘We’re busier now than we’ve been in two years,’” said Carol Woodard, chairwoman of the Cleveland Area Board of Realtors. “The spring market has already started, in spite of what Mother Nature’s doing to us.”
The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that sales of previously owned homes rose 3.7 percent from February to March. Sales were down 6.3 percent from March 2010.
“We thought March was a pretty good month,” said Howard “Hoby” Hanna, president of Howard Hanna Ohio. “We all want it to be better. We all want prices to go drastically up. We all want to see more sales. But we’re all living in this new norm.”
The average sale price for a new or existing house was $105,247 in Northeast Ohio last month, down 13 percent from a year before. The average price for a condo was $104,301, according to data for 15 counties from the Northern Ohio Regional Multiple Listing Service.
Statewide, the average price for a new or existing home was $113,361, down 11.5 percent from March 2010.
The National Association of Realtors reports median – or middle – prices instead of averages. The median sale price for a previously owned home was $159,600 last month, down 5.9 percent from a year before.
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Tags: Home Sales, Northeast Ohio, Ohio
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