(November 16, 2005) Central Ohio has experienced strong increases in price, sales and inventory this fall according to the Columbus Board of REALTORS®. Housing inventory remains at an all time high with over 15,000 residential homes listed for sales, roughly 23 percent more homes than were on the market in the fall of 2004. "With the housing inventory so high right now, buyers are taking their time in choosing their next home," says Doug McCloud, President of the Columbus Board of REALTORS®. "For this reason, properties are taking longer to sell than at the same time last year when our inventory was considerabley lower." Sales of residential homes held at the highest on record for the month of October, with sales surging to 2,196. According to McCloud, this is anywhere from six to 51 percent more than homes sold in October in the last five years. "We're entering the fourth quarter with 23,540 home sales which is three percent higher than sales during the same period in 2004." Although the average price of the homes that sold in October was slightly lower than those of last year, the average price of a Central Ohio home has increased 4.7 percent year to date. The Columbus Board of REALTORS® Multiple Listing Service (MLS) serves all of Franklin, Delaware, Fayette, Madison, Morrow and Union Counties and parts of Champagne, Clark, Licking, Fairfield, Knox, Logan, Marion and Pickaway Counties. To view residential and most of the commercial MLS listings, visit www.Realtor.com providing over 1.7 million homes every day. | 
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