With all the economical and financial news this past week, plus, some discussions of the have’s and have not’s, I was curious to see how higher priced homes were faring in sales this year. We know that the lower priced homes are facing more challenges to attracting buyers, but does the same hold true for the upper scale homes where “lack of money” may be less of an issue for potential buyers?
Normally the charts I prepare are for portions of Delaware County and Franklin County. I decided to use the ENTIRE MLS system for this review since some of the more expensive property may be located in outlying areas where ample land can ensure privacy. I also included condos … not just single-family homes … because there are some luxury condos being sold both in Powell as well as downtown Columbus high-rises. I wanted to know how buyers were spending their money regardless whether it was in a regular home or an easy-care condo or patio home.
This graph shows the NUMBER of homes SOLD by price range between Jan to today’s date.
Obviously, there are a lot fewer buyers buying this year than last, and remember this is for ALL the counties surrounding Franklin County where Columbus is located. Strangely the average price within each price range hardly changed from one year to the next. In other words, the average price in the $200-299K range was $241K for both years … there were just 62% fewer buyers.
Now back to the original premise of my purpose in doing this review. What’s happening in the luxury market? I think the graph shows that upscale people are having the same thoughts as the “common folk”.
If your home is for sale, this should be a wake-up call to make sure your home is in absolute top-notch condition and priced right because your competition is fierce for the much smaller pool of buyers. I could also say that your choice of a Realtor® is very important as well to make sure your home receives the most exposure with the best photos … but then I hope you already know that! 
Copyright © 2008. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.
Elaine Reese
614-825-8860Real Living HER379 W Olentangy StPowell Ohio 43065
Assisting home sellers and buyers throughout Central Ohio in achieving their dreams.
2 responses so far ↓
monikamcgillicuddy // 09/27/2008 at 7:24 pm |
That looks like a big drop. We’re down to compared to 2007 but my immediate market has picked up. Probably due to all the bank owned homes on the market.
Elaine Reese // 09/27/2008 at 7:41 pm |
Moni, this is all counties around Columbus, so there’s a lot of rural property included in these numbers. The county I primarily work in is down only about 5% in the number of homes sold.
Glad to hear your market has picked up. You started doing REO’s didn’t you?
We were doing not too bad until the “hurricane” went through 2 weeks ago and many were out of electricity for a week. Of course, this week has been all the negative financial news so it hasn’t yet picked up again.