Ohio still has a seller market, but it’s not what it once was

Hot, but not too hot

“When I say it’s a competitive market, it’s not like it was four years ago,” Jose Medina, an established Cleveland Keller Williams Broker and team leader, said. “For example, I just mentioned a house and within 24 hours I had two offers on it. The same house three years ago would have had at least nine offers in the first three days. It is a very strong seller market, but it is not as robust as it once was.”

Medina attributes part of this to the stock situation of the state. Although it is not necessarily good, it is better than at the height of the Pandemic Market.

From 4 April, the average number of active single family lists of 90 days was 11,669, compared to nearly 30,000 offers in November 2019. Even with that decrease, a pandemic market trough of 6,916 entries at the end of April 2022, according to housing products, was still rising.

Although local professionals in the property in Ohio are happy to see more inventory on the market, it is not nearly enough to meet demand. From earlier this month, the average number of the 90-day average single family lists that came on the market every week was 1,407, fractionally above the number of new offers for the same week in the past four years. But the figure is still under the number of 2,295 entries in April 2019.

Sellers keep it out

Real estate professionals, based in Ohio, attribute the lack of entries to the current interest rate environment.

“There are many sellers on their houses because they have a low interest rate,” Michelle Billings, the president of Ohio Association of Realtors and one Coldwell Banker Realty Agent, said. “Also, with rising house prices, although they may have a lot of equity, the majority of that equity goes to the next house that they buy and not all sellers want to do that.”

Medina also believes that the current cohort of the inventory is not enough tempting for some potential sellers to plug the plug and the list.

“There is not much exciting inventory for their interest in being awakened,” said Medina. “I definitely think there are some sellers who would move if there was something good enough to want to take that step. Those premium properties that are ready sell quickly and you can push the price to the upper part of the reach, but with things that need, we see those who sit and become a discount.”

Local real estate professionals say that most sellers who currently mention their houses are related to life changes such as divorce, marriage, a growing family or have to move for work.

With the strict inventory and multiple offer situations, house prices in the state of an average median catalog price of 90 days in April 2019 have risen from $ 174,900 to a record high of almost $ 300,000 last summer, according to the data of housing in the home.

Although these house prices may be shocking for buyers who have not hit real estate in several years, Maloney said that the price growth was a bit too late.

“You talk to some people waiting for the prices to fall and I tell them that they are not going,” said Maloney, “during the pandemie our prices went up, but we didn’t have that big swing like on the east coast or in the sunbathing bull. The prices where they are now too low and I think they have bought a houses in the first time I think they are way too low.

Economic

With the increasing economic uncertainty, partly due to the ever-changing rate policy of the Trump administration, some local real estate professionals in Ohio expect this summer and fall on a slower housing market conditions.

“The spring market takes care of itself because people are just enthusiastic to be outside again and look at things, but I think this year this market will be the most robust part of the year,” Medina said. “I think the summer and autumn markets will be a bit more muted with the sale that is more modest than we would usually see. We hoped that 2024 would be the soil for the market, but we are four months in and 2025 feels like a repeat of 2024.”

Although Billings acknowledges the challenges that are currently confronted with both the market and the consumer, it is a bit more optimistic.

“I expect a busy summer market,” said Billings. “I think we will certainly see house prices rising. I think we will have the same market activity as when we did when the rates were 3%? Maybe not, but I think it will be a very healthy and growing market.”