Cindi Andrews reports:
Greater Cincinnati home sales climbed to a six-year high in March and rose 15.9 percent over last March, the Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors announced this morning.
Existing-home sales totaled 1,754 last month, compared with 1,513 a year ago.
That’s in spite of continued tight inventory, according to the CABR: The number of homes available for sale in Greater Cincinnati was down 17.3 percent in March vs. a year earlier.
The combination of higher demand and lower inventory may be starting to impact prices. The median sale price in March was $126,553, CABR said – a 10.1 percent increase over the same month a year earlier.
“We are in a very active spring market,” said Kevin Kelly, board president. “Our low inventory of homes for sale has created a high demand for reasonably priced houses in good condition.”
National sales, which unlike local numbers are seasonally adjusted, declined 0.6 percent in March from the previous month, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales remained 10.3 percent higher than March 2012.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, blamed the continued national shortage of inventory for the monthly decline. Housing inventory as of late March had increased 1.6 percent to 1.93 million existing homes available for sale, but that’s still just a 4.7-month supply.
“The inventory improvement last month results from a seasonal gain, but conditions continue to broadly favor sellers,” Yun said. “We need a housing supply of over six months to have a generally balanced market between home buyers and sellers.”
The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $184,300 in March, according to the National Association of Realtors – 11.8 percent higher than March 2012.
This report will be updated with Northern Kentucky and Southeastern Indiana numbers when they are released.
