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Health & Fitness

Cleveland, Northeast OH Area Real Estate Market March 2013

Cleveland and Northeast Ohio home sales data for March 2013 and what it means for the current local real estate market.

According to the Northeast Ohio Regional Multiple Listing Service (NORMLS) and an article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper, homes sales in the region continue to surpass last year's sales figures. Lower home inventory (which is beginning to increase), higher rental prices and higher buyer demand due to low interest rates, is driving this increase in activity and increase in sales prices.  Competition over available homes has been more common over the past several months.

Sales comparing March 2012 to March 2013 show increasing sales figures.  Among the 15 counties in Northeast Ohio, single family home sales are up 15.8% and condo sales are up a 15.6%.  From February to March 2013, single family home sales increased 48.9% and condos increase by 33.3%.  In addition to the increase in sales activity, Northeast Ohio is showing a 6.9% increase in single family home prices and 1.0% increase for condos, compared to last March. 

The key point here is that the market is starting to stabilize and shifting to a seller's market.  Sellers are getting more for their homes than last year, with buyers paying a bit more to purchase a home to take advantage of the low interest rates.  Buyers should note that interest rates have reached nearly as low as they can go, when deciding the best time to make a purchase.  In fact, rates have already shown increases over the past several months.  The data also indicates we have seen the bottom of the local real estate market.

By comparison, Northeast Ohio is showing a higher price increase of 6.9% versus Ohio's 5.2%. The US market actually saw a 0.6% decrease in sales price from the year before, but is showing a home price increase of 6.9%.  Nationally, 4.92 million homes have sold, which is just shy of meeting the lower part of the 5-6 million of annual home sales considered to be a normal or healthy range.



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