2005 Sales, 2006 Predictions

Home sales up, price up, inventory up and homes selling
at 97.5 percent of list price

Central Ohio home sales again outpaced last year for the fifth consecutive year. The 27,493 residential homes sold in 2005 was 3.1 percent more than the 25,561 homes sold in 2004. The average sale price of $177,978 in 2005 showed a 4.4 percent increase over 2004 prices.

Year end home sales - 1995 - 2005 2005 Homes Sales - Detail

Noteworthy in 2005 was the hefty increase in inventory - higher than any other year on record. There were approximately 13,995 residential listings on the market at the end of 2005 - over 20 percent more listed homes than at the end of 2004. Of these, 11,958 were single family homes (18.4 percent higher than a year ago) and 2,037 were condos (30.5 more than one year ago).

Due to the increase in inventory, it wasn't surprising that homes were taking longer to sell - but only by a few days according to the statistics.

However, even with the increase in the number of homes on the market, REALTORS® were still able to get sellers an average of 97.5 percent of their original asking price.

Statewide sales, at 146,820, were also 4.4 percent higher than last year. However, the average sale price of a home statewide ($156,677) is only 3.3 percent higher than last year and 12 percent lower than the Central Ohio area.

Nationally, sales were up 4.2 percent this year and the median price of $208,700 Was 12.7 percent higher than last year.

A softer market in 2006? Experts from both the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) and the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) are forecasting a slowdown in home sales. NAR is predicting a 4.4 percent decline in existing home sales and a  6.0 percent decrease in new home sales. NAHB thinks the decrease could be as high as 7 percent.

As for interest rates, NAR's Chief Economist, David Lereah is predicting interest rates will get up to 6.7 percent in the latter part of 2006. Our Forecast Night speaker, Dr. Ted Jones, Chief Economist for Stewart Title Guaranty (article on page 14-15) expects mortgage interest rates to surpass the 7 percent level by July of this year.