After a record year for home sales in 2020, central Ohio housing activity continued its frenzied pace coming into 2021.

There were 1,926 home sales in January, up 10.4 percent from last year (1,745). Although homes in contract were 4.8 percent lower than January 2020, those 2,573 homes should close in the next 30-60 days pushing sales higher as we move into the spring months.

The number of homes added to the market (New Listings) last month was up 19.8 percent from December 2020. Although down 9.1 from last year, this number is in keeping with the number of new listings seen in January for the last few years according to the Columbus REALTORS® Multiple Listing Service.  

It’s well known that there are not enough homes for sale to meet demand; however, it’s not because we have fewer Columbus, Ohio homeowners listing their homes. Instead, the demand for Columbus, Ohio homes has increased over 50%.

About ten years ago, we were selling just under 50% of new inventory. In 2020, we were selling 93% of new inventory! Increasingly, people want to buy homes in central Ohio.

As a result, homes continue to sell quickly, an average of 25 days in January 2021.

Homes under $350,000 sold in an average of 20 days. Homes sold between $350,000 and $500,000 took about 36 days to sell. Homes sold between $500,000 and $700,000 sold in an average of 48 days and homes over $700,000 took an average of 79 days to sell.

Higher end home sales, which normally slow after a recession showed great resilience in 2020.

• Homes sold between $350,000 and $500,000 accounted for 14 percent of the sales in 2020, up just over 23% from last year.
• 5% of all homes sold in 2020 sold for $500,000 to $700,000, an increase of 28.2%.
• And homes over $700,000, roughly two percent of the total homes sold this year, are showing an increase in market share of 25 percent.
• Listings under $350,000, which made up almost 80% of the sales in 2020, were down 5 percent from last year.

It’s probably safe to say that we had far more homes available at higher price segments.  The supply of homes at more affordable prices, however, is in a remarkably short supply.

After the first month of 2021, central Ohio was showing a 0.6 months supply. This means that, if no more inventory were added to the market, it would just over a couple weeks to sell all listed homes based on the current sales pace.