Columbus Board of REALTORS which serves a large portion of Central Ohio has announced its September home sale statistics.
Total sales, average list price, average sales price and days on market have remained very consistent from 2007 to 2008 – with less than two percentage points change.
“The difference in sales of only a handful of homes demonstrates the stability of central Ohio’s market at a time when many other markets nationwide are struggling,” says Greg Hrabcak, President of the Columbus Board of REALTORS®.
We are still in a strong buyers market with an absorption rate of 9.1. Absorption rate is basically a very simplistic way to calculate the amount of inventory on the market, anything above six is considered a buyer’s market. By comparison, the absorption rate at this point in 2007 was 10.53.
The drop in absorption with little increase in sales shows the reduction of about 3,000 listings on the market. People that are not getting their price and don’t “have to” sell are stepping out of the market.
Is that a good sign?
Looking at the market from a macroeconic level, yes. The reduction in inventory can give buyer’s a sense of need to buy, which will assist in increasing the number of home purchases and bring the absorption rate into a neutral setting.
In theory that’s how it works anyhow.
