Ohio home sales for November up 6.9 percent from year before, and prices keep climbing

Ohio home sales for November up 6.9 percent from year before, and prices keep climbing

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- November home sales jumped notably in Ohio, as nationwide purchases surged to their swiftest clip in more than a decade.

In the Buckeye State, the pace of November sales was up 6.9 percent from a year before, according to seasonally adjusted annualized data from the Ohio Association of Realtors. Buyers snapped up 11,732 new and existing homes last month.

Across the country, sales of previously owned homes were 5.6 percent higher than they were in November 2016, based on similarly adjusted annualized figures from the National Association of Realtors. The trade group said Wednesday that sales hit their strongest stride since December 2006.

“Faster economic growth in recent quarters, the booming stock market and continuous job gains are fueling substantial demand for buying a home as 2017 comes to an end,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the national Realtors, said in a news release.

But, he noted, cash buyers and move-up buyers accounted for the majority of sales last month. Low inventory and rising prices continue to pose hurdles for first-time buyers, who don’t necessarily have a substantial down payment on hand.

Nationwide listings were down 9.7 percent in November from a year before. At the recent pace of purchasing, there’s only 3.4 months worth of supply on the market.

Pete Kopf, president of the Ohio Realtors, expressed hope that more homeowners will put their properties up for sale in 2018.

“Home sales across Ohio in November were remarkably strong, as sales activity during the month reached an all-time high - besting any month since we began tracking data in 1998,” he said in a blog post on the organization’s website.

Related: Northeast Ohio house prices up 12.3 percent in November

Prices also continue to climb. The average sale price for a new or previously owned home in the state was $174,689 in November, up 7.7 percent from a year before.

The national Realtors report median - or middle - prices instead of averages, and their numbers don’t include newly constructed homes. The group said November’s median sale price was $248,000, for a 5.8 percent annual gain.

“Price appreciation is too fast in a lot of markets right now,” Yun cautioned. “The increase in homebuilder optimism must translate to significantly more new construction in 2018 to help ease these acute inventory shortages.”

A separate report on nationwide sales of new homes will be released Friday.