The average sales price year-to-date is $276,568 and represents a 10.6% rise over 2023′s year-to-date numbers. The median sales price also grew, increasing to $235,000 in the first half of 2024 compared to $215,000 in 2023, a 9.3% increase.
“It indicates to me that it’s still a strong seller’s market,” said Kelly McCormick, president of Dayton Realtors. “Whether or not that’s going to soften as the year goes forward, I’m not sure. A lot depends on what that does with interest rates. There are some signs that maybe interest rates will be softening, maybe even a bit more than we thought, so that could increase sales.”
Home sales also increased statewide, but at a much narrower pace. During the first six months of the year, Ohio home sales activity is up 0.3% compared to January-to-June 2023. Year-to-date sales totaled 62,384, up from the 62,224 homes sold a year ago, according to Ohio Realtors.
The average statewide sales price during the period this year is $285,487 a 7.5% increase from the $265,457 mark set a year ago.
Ohio home sales in the month of June alone reached 11,972, a 10.3% increase over June 2023. The average sales price across Ohio just for the month of June cracked the $300,000 mark, reaching $308,375, a 5.8% increase from the $291,397 mark posted in June 2023.
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
“Home prices have risen, reflecting a robust appreciation in property values,” Ohio Realtors President Ali Whitley said in a release. “This positive trend in home prices underscores value and demand for homes in our state, confirming that owning a home is a great investment.”
Twelve of the 14 Ohio markets that are tracked experienced an increase in average sale price for June 2024 compared to June 2023, the organization said.
In the Dayton area, June’s numbers slowed 2024′s year-to-date sales increase. Sales of single-family homes and condominiums in June totaled 1,282, representing a 3.8% decrease from the sales reported in June 2023. The median sales price in June came in at $255,000, beating last year’s figure of $234,000 by about 9%. The average price of $292,966 was 9.5% more than last June’s average price of $267,543.
Year-to-date listings tallied 8,689, a 15.9% increase from last year’s 7,497 listings through the end of June 2023. Listings submitted just in the month of June showed 1,608 entries, an increase of 8.9% from the 1,476 listings added in June 2023.
“We still have an inventory shortage overall,” McCormick said. “As far as new construction is concerned, I have seen some builders lowering their entry prices, which could reflect maybe that it will be more competitive in the market.”
When new construction prices rise, then consumers are pushed more into the resale market, which keeps that inventory short, she said.
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
“It has been short for the last couple of years, although it’s higher than it was two years ago, sure, but there’s still limited inventory as far as homebuyers are concerned, which makes it still a bit more of a seller’s market,” McCormick said. “I think numbers were a little softer in June for number of homes sold, but the sale prices held strong.”
Austin Castro, a team leader at Coldwell Banker Heritage, said the cost of money has doubled and possibly even tripled in the past 24 months.
“Simple economics would say: ‘Cost of money goes up, cost of product goes down,” Castro said. “We really haven’t seen that. It’s just because inventory is so tight and that’s keeping things propped up just because people aren’t happy about paying the higher rate.”
The Dayton area continues to draw people from across the nation for jobs at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, medical-related jobs and other industry-specific employment, fueling the need for and shortage of available homes, he said.
“We get a lot of people from Columbus,” Castro said. “Columbus has had so much growth and a lot of those buyers coming in (to Ohio) are from the West Coast, from really big, busy metros where they’re commuting an hour-and-a-half each way in stop-and-go traffic. To commute an hour on an interstate (in Ohio) and on cruise control at 70 miles an hour is no big deal to them.”
In addition, home prices in Dayton are a little more affordable than Columbus, he said.
