Home sales in Ohio moved up for the 25th straight month and that’s seen by some as a positive indicator for the state’s economy.
In July more than 13,ooo homes sold; a 25.8 percent increase over sales reported a year ago at that time, and July’s highest sales figures since 2005.
The Ohio Association of REALTORS says these numbers from a preliminary report indicate the “longest stretch of uninterrupted growth in 16 years of tracking Ohio home sales” – and they see that as an outgrowth of rising consumer confidence and believe people are once again looking at home buying as “a solid, long-term investment.”
Carl Horst with the Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors says “Housing is an important part of what takes place, either leading us in a recession or hopefully bringing us out, and what we’ve seen is pretty steady, consistent progress in making and effort to overcome the challenges we saw a few years ago.
Home sales in Ohio through the first seven months of 2013 reached 74,666, a 17 and a half percent increase over the same period a year ago.
Sale prices got a bump too as the average home price jumped 7.2 percent above July 2012 pricing to an average of about $157,000
The average sales price for the first 7 months this year this year was more than $142,000, a 6.7 percent increase over the mark set during the period a year ago.
And total dollar volume in home sales this year in Ohio - nearly $10.7 billion.
