“Inventory is so tight right now. We have potential sellers who may put their house on the market and may not be able to find another to buy. We have families who are not putting their homes on the market as a result. They are holding back,” said Sunny Dhingra, with Always Sunny Realty.
Dhingra added that in some cases his business has been able to orchestrate trades between sellers, such as someone looking to upscale swapping with someone who is looking to downsize their home.
In addition to that, the area has seen a sharp increase in the number of offers that are placed on homes at one time, Dhingra noted, saying that is good for sellers but can be frustrating for buyers.
The average listing price for homes in Clark County shot up to $202,032 in April compared to an average listing price of $149,725 reported during the same month in 2020.
Year to date data also shows that an average home in the county during the first part of the year sold for over $28,000 more than homes on the market during the same months in 2020.
That is according to housing data that looked at housing trends between January and April for both 2020 and 2021.
The average sales prices for homes sold between January and April in 2021 was $159,721 compared to $131,109 during the same period in 2020. For the month of April alone, that number was $167,593 in 2021 versus an average sale price of $132,624 during the same month in 2020.
That is according to data collected by the Western Regional Information Systems & Technology (WRIST), an Ohio-based company that monitors real estate trends.
However, the number of homes sold has decreased between April 2020 and and April 2021, going from 101 homes to 84 homes respectively.
A similar trend occurred for listed home sales between the first four months of 2020 and 2021. According to local housing data, 350 homes were reported sold during the first part of 2021 compared to the 384 homes reported sold during the same period last year.
There were also more active listings in Clark County during the first four months of 2020 when compared to now, according to WRIST, with 670 active listings during those months in 2020 versus the 491 active listings reported up to April in 2021.
But, the average days that a home stayed listed on the market fell from around 70 in April 2020 to around 60 in April 2021, showing a higher demand.
“We sold a lot of our product even before we put it on the market because we had buyers for it,” Dhingra said of the current housing market in the county.
Clark County, particularly the City of Springfield, has recently caught national attention for having one of the hottest housing markets in the country.
That is the result of limited housing stock, in addition to other factors such as lower days on the market and increased interest in available homes when compared to other areas across the nation.
In April, USA Today declared Springfield as the fifth hottest housing market in the country right now.
The city surpassed other markets in Ohio such as Columbus, which came in at number 19 on the national publication’s list, as well as Akron, which was last on the list that looked at the top 20 housing markets so far this year.
The determination was made using the number of unique views per property as well as the number of days a listing stayed active on Realtor.com, according to USA Today.
The list used data from March and showed that homes on the market in the Springfield area were averaging 3.7 views per property. Those homes were also listed as being on the market for an average of 26 days with a median home price of $145,000.
In addition to that ranking, the Springfield Metro Area, which encompasses all of Clark County, secured the third highest ranking on the Wall Street Journal/Realtor.com Emerging Housing Market Index.
That index looks at housing markets that are expected to provide a strong return on investment. It uses factors such as housing demand, supply, unemployment in the area, wages offered by employers as well as how expensive it is to live and work in a given metro area.
Affordable housing prices in Clark County as well as job opportunities have helped play a part in the area’s hot housing market, said Brock Bowen, the president of the Springfield Board of Realtors.
Bowen added that the tight inventory in the area has stayed consistent when compared to last fall and that has been a driving point as to why Clark County’s housing market is so hot right now.
He said all-time low interest rates for homes have also contributed to the increase in demand and in some cases it has prompted renters to become home owners.
Dhingra said he has seen a similar trend and has noticed people are also moving into the area. He said growth in larger metro areas such as Dayton and Columbus have also played a part.
The county is situated between those two cities. Lower property taxes and lower costs of living in Clark County can be attractive to homebuyers who are looking to buy a home and have jobs in the greater Dayton and Columbus areas.
In addition to that, job growth in Clark County has also attracted potential home buyers. Stimulus payments seen during the coronavirus has also lead some to put that money towards home improvements or finding a new home, Dhingra added.
Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck said that the current housing market is also a result of longtime economic development efforts that also make the area more marketable to homeowners.
Heck said that includes companies and manufacturers such as Silfex and Topre establishing operations in Springfield that have added jobs and brought more people into the city.
There have also been larger efforts to make Clark County more attractive to outside investors. That has also led to new housing projects in the area, especially in Springfield.
One includes a new housing development called Bridgewater that aims to build a total of 231 homes in the eastern part of the city. It is the first major housing development Springfield since the early 1990s.
There is also a project, Center Street Townes, underway to bring 34 townhomes to downtown Springfield as well as plans to construct 94 high-end apartments in the northeast part of the city.
By the numbers:
$202,032 - the average listing price for a home in Clark County last month
$167,593 - the average home sale price in Clark County last month
84- number of homes listed as sold in Clark County last month
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