Homes are selling faster than ever before

The amount of time time it took a home to sell during the month of May dropped to its lowest point on record. According to the Columbus REALTORS® Multiple Listing Service, listed homes took an average of 14 days to sell. Days on market is calculated from the list date up until the actual day that the status is changed to contingent, pending, temp off market, etc. Days on market are the actual days that a property was active.

“This is not necessarily how long the house has been on the market,” said Michael Jones, 2021 President, Columbus REALTORS®. “If an owner switches real estate agents, the number is reset. There are also occasions when a home is withdrawn and later relisted. This would also reset the DOM. However, REALTORS® are able to research the properties MLS history and can tell more effectively how long the property has been on the market.”

Ten years ago, there were 17,603 homes for sale, which was 8.5 times more than today, and yet home sales today are 50 percent higher. Market shares have also changed significantly over the last decade. In May 2011, homes listed at less than $350,000 accounted for 93.5 percent of the homes sold and it took an average of 109 days to sell. Last month, homes in that price range totaled 2,054, or 68.4 percent of the sales, and they sold in an average of 11 days! At the other end of the spectrum, there were 13 homes listed for more than $700K that sold in May of 2011 and it took an average of 251 days for them to sell. This year, there were 137 homes sold in that price range, a 592 percent increase in market share, and they sold in an average of 27 days.

“The dramatic changes in market share and days on market provide meaningful insight into the needs and wants of today’s home buyer,” added Jones. “And the fact that we have so many more buyers in the higher price ranges impacts the average market home sale price.”

The average sale price jumped 21.8 percent from to $315,127 and the median sale price rose from $233,000 to $275,000 which was an increase of 18 percent, year over year.

A welcome increase in new listings resulted in a rise in the inventory last month, even with an increase in home sales. New listings rose almost 21 percent from a year ago and almost eight percent from April. The number of homes sales also rose 18.1 percent year over year and 7.1 percent from the previous month., and a healthy increase of 15.3 percent in contracts suggests strong home sales ahead for June.