Cleveland, Northeast OH Area Real Estate Market February 2014

According to the Northeast Ohio Regional Multiple Listing Service (NORMLS) and an article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper, homes sales in the region increased from January to February. Lower home inventory, higher rental prices and higher buyer demand due to low (but climbing) interest rates, have been driving this increase in activity and increase in sales prices over the past year or so. Prices actually dipped a bit recently, however.

Low inventories continue to prevent some would-be buyers from making deals. Fewer homeowners put their properties on the market in February, when compared with listing-service figures from January. Overall, new listings are down 8.3% this year.
Sales comparing February 2013 to February 2014 still show increasing sales figures.  Among the 15 counties in Northeast Ohio, single family home sales are up 3.6% but a slight decline in condominium sales. and is showing a 5.7% price decrease from last February,

Ohio's sales volume showed a decline by 4.3% from February 2013, while the US market is experienced a sales volume decrease of 7.1%.  Ohio and Northeast Ohio's price increases have slowed or stabilized recently, while the US sales prices continue to rise at a higher rate, which has been historically the case in our area compared with the nation.  There is still a concern that home prices are rising faster than income growth.

The key point here is that the market is starting to stabilize and shifting to a seller's market.  Sellers are getting more for their homes than last year, with buyers paying a bit more to purchase a home to take advantage of the low interest rates.  Buyers should note that interest rates have decreased slightly, hovering around 4.5%. 

This is a great time for buyers who also have a home to sell, because rates are still relatively low on the buying side, but home values have risen in many areas to improve the financial return on the selling side.  If the economy continues to improve, buyers in the current market will be able to realize value gains for the homes they purchase as well.