Home sales prices jump 7% in northwest Ohio

Data: Tight inventory boosts competition among buyers; shortage boosts competition, Realtor says

‘It’s a very active market out there,’ said Re/Max Central Group Realtor Brad Crown, president of the Toledo Board of Realtors.

May home sales in northwest Ohio were stagnant and decreased by one sale from last year.

Data released Tuesday by the Toledo Board of Realtors show 710 sales closed last month, as opposed to 711 the year before. Pending sales increased 10 percent, from 712 to 780, boding well for coming months.

“It’s a very active market out there,” said Brad Crown, president of the board and a Realtor at Re/Max Central Group. “We have a shortage of inventory, which has increased the level of competition for new listings that come on the market. If you look at those statistics, a lot of things are up.”

The average sale price increased 7 percent, from $111,057 to $119,185, but the homes on the market decreased 13 percent.

New listings are not abundant and what’s on the market doesn’t always suit a buyer’s taste, Mr. Crown said.

“It’s not the bad stuff that disappears, it’s the good stuff,” he said. “That’s why when something new comes on the market, there is a lot of competition for it.”

Year-to-date sales are up by 6 percent. The average selling price is up from $97,368 to $103,629, while the number of homes on the market is down 8 percent. That number was 5,795 in 2012 and 5,357 this year.

For a smaller area that only includes Lucas County and northern Wood County, sales fell 2 percent last month compared with May, 2012.

The average price was $125,860, up 9 percent. For the year, sales are up 4 percent and prices are up 10 percent.

Realtors in the Toledo region will have an easier time orchestrating sales and financing with a new computer system that has been adopted, said Kathy Kuyoth, a member of the board and co-owner of Re/Max Preferred. The program, called dotLoop, is designed to eliminate paper and speed transactions among buyers, sellers, agents, appraisers, and banks.

“It makes all this in a neat little package where everything can work in one system,” she said.

Contact Kris Turner at: kturner@theblade.com or 419-724-6103.