(November 20, 2006) Although homes and the weather in October were frightful, there is still a delightful inventory of homes for sale in central Ohio! The 17,746 homes and condos is 14.6 percent higher than inventory levels in October 2005 according to the Columbus Board of REALTORS®. "The holiday season is a great time to buy a house," says Chris Reese, President of the Columbus Board of REALTORS®. "It's not uncommon for sellers to take their home off the market during the holidays as buyers are distracted with festivities. So those sellers with homes listed are generally more serious about making the sale. With fewer buyers and yet still a higher level of inventory than we usually have, a buyer is in a really strong position to wrap up a new home right now." October home sales were down 9.7 percent compared to last year. The 1,982 homes sold represents the lowest number of October sales since 2002. However, the number of homes sold January through October of this year (22,672), is just 3.7 percent behind last year and still neck and neck with 2004 sales. The average price of a home sold this year is $175,703 which is just 1.7 percent lower than the average selling price in 2005. "The market is leveling off," says Reese. "This comes as no surprise as we've had such a active housing market for the last four years. But even with record inventory and a drop in sales, our numbers are still comfortably moderate compared to the fallout we're seeing in other parts of the country." 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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