According to the Northeast Ohio Regional Multiple Listing Service (NORMLS) and an article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper,
homes sales in the region decreased from March to April. 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. While sales volume is a bit lower, sales prices have shown an increase.
Sales
from
March to April do show an increase, however, sales from April 2013
to April 2014 show a decline.
Among the 15 counties in Northeast Ohio, we saw an 8.8% increase for
single family homes and a 31.6% increase in sales volume from last
month. Single family
home sales are down 2.6% and condominium sales are down 4.2% from April
of last year. Local home prices continue to increase, but at a slower
pace than 2013. We saw a 3.9% increase in annual price gains, up from
2.9% in February.
Ohio's
sales volume showed an increase of 3.8% from March to April. Ohio's sales
prices have increased by 7.4% from last April and national figures have
shown a 5.2% gain. Ohio and
Northeast Ohio's price increases have
slowed or stabilized recently, but the increases are what would be typically expected for the region.
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 4.2%. A recent report indicates that
economists are projecting rates to rise to 5-5.5% by year-end.
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.
