Ohio Association of Realtors says Toledo home sales up 21% in November

Previously occupied home sales are on track for their best year in five years, with average prices up 9 percent from last November.

Home sales in the Toledo area were up almost 21 percent in November compared with the same month a year earlier, according to statistics released Thursday by the Ohio Association of Realtors.

The number of units sold was 624, compared with 517 a year earlier.

The average sale price of $106,978 was up almost 9 percent from the $98,410 average in the same period.

For the year so far, sales in the Toledo area are up 10 percent, and sales prices are up 4 percent.

In the entire state, sales were up 23 percent last month and are 14 percent higher for the first 11 months of the year. The average sales price of $135,460 is 5 percent higher than last year.

“The Ohio housing market is continuing to make significant progress in its attempt to fully recover from the economic downturn of a few years ago,” said Robert U. Miller, president of the Ohio Association of Realtors.

Mr. Miller said the stretch of 17 straight monthly gains is the state’s longest since the association began tracking sales data in 1998.

The Ohio numbers are for both new and existing homes. They do not include homes sold without a real estate agent.

Also Thursday, the National Association of Realtors said U.S. sales of previously occupied homes jumped to their highest level in three years last month.

The group said sales rose 5.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million in November. That's up from 4.76 million in October.

Previously occupied home sales are on track for their best year in five years. November’s sales were the highest since November, 2009, when a federal tax credit that was soon to expire spurred sales. Excluding that month, last month’s sales were the highest since July, 2007.

Sales are up 14.5 percent from a year ago, though they remain below the roughly 5.5 million that are consistent with a healthy market.

“The report is encouraging, and the positive momentum established in the housing market during 2012 appears likely to continue into 2013,” Michael Gapen, an economist at Barclays Capital, said in an email.

Job growth and low home-loan rates have helped drive purchases.

Prices are also rising, which encourages more potential buyers to come off the sidelines and purchase homes.

And more people may put their homes on the market if they feel confident they can sell at a good price.

In addition, the excess supply of homes that built up during the housing bubble has finally thinned out. The number of previously occupied homes available for sale fell to nearly an 11-year low in November. The supply of new homes is also near its lowest level since 1963.