Fervent buyer demand in central Ohio, driven by pandemic-induced changes to housing needs and preferences, reached extraordinary levels in 2021. This increased competition for homes resulted in multiple offer situations which drove prices significantly higher for the year.  

As a result, home prices and sales reached record highs while inventory and market time set record lows.

Almost 11% more homes were listed in 2021 compared to 200. However, homeowner’s interest in selling could not rise enough to meet this increased buyer demand.

We had more listings in 2021 than any year since 2010. This was when the country was recovering from the market crash of 2008. This was also a point in which many homeowners unfortunately had to sell their home.

Home sales were up 9.1 percent to end the year at 36,489.

The overall median sales price increased 12.1 percent to $260,000 for the year. Single Family home prices were up 12.6 percent compared to last year, and Condo home prices were up 14.3 percent.

Sellers received, on average, 102.2 percent of their list price at sale, up 2.4 percent from 2020.

Forbearance efforts by the government and lenders continued for much of the year, limiting distressed sales activity once again. In 2021, the percentage of closed sales that were either foreclosure or short sale decreased by 29.2 percent to finish the year at 1.2 percent of the market. Foreclosure and short sale activity may increase in 2022, though the strong gains in equity seen by most homeowners in the last few years will help to limit the number of distressed sales. 

New construction activity, while strong, remains limited by a combination of labor and supply shortages, rising material costs, and a regulatory and operational environment that makes it difficult to scale quickly. 

Our ongoing pandemic makes it relatively difficult to predict what the housing market will do in 2022. Many economists forecast mortgage rates will increase slightly within this year. Accordingly, housing affordability will remain an important factor to watch.

Still, we are optimistic. Our current strong job and economic climate continues to attract people to central Ohio (for example, the recent Intel building announcement). Further, our builders are working fervently to help build more housing.