Cleveland, Northeast OH Area Real Estate Market April 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 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.