2012 Central Ohio home Sales, Prices Flourish - Best Year Since 2007

Central Ohio Housing Report - Dec. 2012

Posted: 1/22/2013

Columbus Board of REALTORS®

2012 home sales, prices flourish - best year since 2007

Central Ohio saw 22,915 single-family and condominium home sales in 2012, up 15.5 percent from the previous year according to the Columbus Board of REATORS®. This marks the highest number of residential home sales since 2007 – the end of the housing boom.

“2012 exceeded our expectations,” said Chris Pedon, President of the Columbus Board of REALTORS®. “Sellers opened their doors, buyers brought their confidence, lenders gave their best rates and REALTORS® worked eight days a week.”

The average sale price of a home sold in central Ohio in 2012 was $167,459, which is 7.2 percent higher than in 2011. The average sale price for the month of December was $158,898 – a 7.5 percent increase over the same time last year.

The median sale price of a home sold in 2012 was $144,500 – up 8.7 percent from 2011. The median list price of a home sold in December was $136,450, which is 9.2 percent higher than one year ago.

The difference between the average sales price and the median sales price is that the average sales price is the sum of all the prices for all closed sales in a given month, divided by the number of homes sold. The median sales price is a mathematical result that indicates that one half of the group is higher and one half lower. The median price of 101 sold homes would be that price which is lower than 50 of the prices and also higher than 50 of them.

The inventory of homes for sale in central Ohio is at its lowest point in over a decade (9,252) - 18.8 percent less than December 2011.

“Homeowners who are putting off listing their house because we’re not “in season” are missing out on opportunity,” added Pedon. “Buyers are out there - and they’re not waiting for summer to buy.”

According to the latest Housing Market Confidence Index (by the Ohio Association of REALTORS®), 93 percent of central Ohio REALTORS® describe the current housing market as moderate to strong and 97 percent expect the housing market to be moderate to strong over the next six months. As for home prices, 85 percent expect home prices to remain the same or rise in the next year.

View the current Central Ohio Local Market Update.
View the current Housing market report by area.

The Columbus Board of REALTORS® Multiple Listing Service (MLS) serves all of Franklin, Delaware, Fayette, Licking, Madison, Morrow, Pickaway and Union Counties and parts of Athens, Champaign, Clark, Clinton, Fairfield, Hocking, Knox, Logan, Marion, Muskingum, Perry and Ross Counties.

The monthly housing reports can be found at ColumbusRealtors.com/stats. The reports include breakouts for 18 central Ohio counties and 52 local municipalities and school districts. New areas included in the 2012 reports include: Grove City and local school districts for Big Walnut, Miami Trace, Johnstown-Monroe and Northridge.

For more information about the central Ohio housing market, visit ColumbusRealtors.com/stats
To view commercial properties for sale or lease in central Ohio, visit COCIE.org.
To view residential properties for sale, visit www.terrypenrod.com

HER Realtors Becomes the Fastest Growing Real Estate Brokerage in Ohio

January 15, 2013

Columbus, OH - Today HER Realtors, central Ohio's largest real estate brokerage, is announcing a merger with Real Living Realty Services in Dayton, and Real Living Realty Services in Cincinnati to create one of the largest, and the fastest growing brokerage in the state.  The new, larger company will be known as HER Realtors in all three markets.

In October of 2012, HER Realtors left the Real Living franchise network, and began an aggressive local and regional growth plan.

"This is a very exciting day!  We are merging these great companies into a force that is unrivaled in our markets.  The HER Realtors name has long been synonymous with superior customer service, the most professional real estate agents and the most innovative technology and tools in the business," said Harley E. Rouda, Jr. "It feels good to be returning to my roots."

HER Realtors was founded by real estate pioneer and innovator, Harley E. Rouda, Sr., who passed away in June of 2012.  Rouda, Jr., left his position as president of Real Living Real Estate, a national franchise company that was founded within the HER Realtors organization in 2001, and is now the CEO of Trident Holdings, Inc., which has various investments in real estate related businesses throughout the Midwest, including HER Realtors.

With this merger, HER Realtors will be home to approximately 900 associates in nearly 60 offices throughout central and southwestern Ohio.  The combined sales volume of the companies in 2012 was approximately $1.4 billion.

"The timing could not be better for this move, and over the next few weeks and months the company will be announcing additional mergers, new search tools for consumers and additional business support tools for sales associates to make sure we continue to earn the trust of our clients," Rouda added. "With the emerging strength of the market, and the shared strength of these companies coming together, we are extremely well positioned for future growth."

For more information please contact:

Chris Derrow, President

614-273-6020

Michael Mahon, Executive Vice President, General Manager

614-273-6024

Columbus Dispatch - Economist sees Ohio’s home sales soaring

The story is here

Home sales and prices in Ohio should increase more than in the nation as a whole this year, a national economist told a group of real-estate agents yesterday.

Lawrence Yun, the chief economist with the National Association of Realtors, delivered his bullish forecast to more than 200 agents gathered at the Ohio Association of Realtors’ winter conference at the Columbus Hilton at Easton.

Yun predicted that home values could rise 15 percent and home sales will rise more than 20 percent during the next three years across the nation.

Ohio, however, is poised for a stronger showing because it has so far lagged behind the nation’s recovery, he said.

“I would not be surprised if Ohio outperformed the rest of the country in 2013 and 2014 in terms of home prices and sales,” he said.

Yun said he based his forecast on several factors, including a pent-up demand for housing, anticipated job growth and a shortage of homes for sale — which is contributing to a rise in prices.

Perhaps the biggest reason, though, is an anticipated growth in household formation. The number of new households has been exceptionally low the past five years as children moved in with parents and renters doubled up for financial reasons. Between 2007 and 2011, about half a million households were created each year, roughly half the traditional average.

The rest of the story is here

Columbus Dispatch - Battle brews over Italian Village parking

The story is here

Business owners, residents are upset

Parking has long been a challenge for visitors to the Short North. But now the city is trying to forge a policy to quiet a growing conflict between residents and area workers.

One problem seems to be that there are too many permits for too few parking spaces.

The city had issued permits for employees to park in Italian Village, east of High Street between Hubbard and Poplar avenues.

Andy Klein, who leads the Italian Village Society’s parking and traffic committee, said the city told area leaders in November that a total of 728 permits had been issued for 186 spaces in the neighborhood.

Those included 147 permits for businesses.

“We just don’t have the parking available,” said resident Mark Fazzina.

City officials are meeting with residents and other parties to figure out a solution. But the city’s latest plan, which calls for parking changes by April 1, doesn’t sit well with business owners and the Short North Alliance, which promotes area businesses and neighborhood revitalization. The plan calls for businesses along the east side of High Street between Hubbard and Poplar to receive two permits — one good any time and one good only on weekdays before 6 p.m.

“I think the debate is whether side streets are strictly for the residents ... or are community assets,” said John Angelo, executive director of the Short North Alliance.

He said “business residents” are entitled to use those community assets. “They come here every day. They are very much part of the fabric.”

Klein said the bigger problem is that there are more permits than spaces. “Focusing on the employees, in my mind, is a red herring,” Klein said. “There are still too many permits for the number of spaces.”

More of the story is here

Mortgage forgiveness tax treatment gets one more year

Mortgage forgiveness tax treatment gets one more year

From the Columbus Board of Realtors:

As part of the fiscal cliff deal, Congress extended the cancellation of mortgage debt relief provision for one year, through the end of 2013. President Obama is expected to sign the legislation into law shortly. 

The law – which was set to expire at the end of 2012 - is crucial to foreclosure mitigation efforts such as principal forgiveness and short sales. Normally, U.S. law decrees that when a lender forgives all or a portion of a borrower’s debt, the forgiven amount is considered taxable income for the borrower. This is known as Cancellation of Debt (COD) Income and must be included in a taxpayer’s gross income.

This Act, however, created an exception to this rule under the U.S. Tax Code. The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act allows homeowners who received principal reductions or other forms of debt forgiveness to not pay taxes on the amount forgiven. The amount extends up to $2 million of debt forgiven on the homeowner’s principal residence.

For homeowner’s to qualify, their debt must have been used to “buy, build, or substantially improve” their principal  residence and be secured by that residence. The law, which was passed in 2007 with a five year sunset provision, will now be in effect until January 1, 2014.