A couple days ago, I mentioned that our local prices have “sort of” bottomed out. I prepared a couple graphs for my last newsletter showing the average prices by school district since the start of the decade. These graphs show that while prices in the last couple years have declined somewhat, we haven’t experienced the severe declines that speculative markets (FL, AZ, CA) have experienced.
Keep in mind, that these prices reflect the averages of what buyers are SPENDING in a given school district. That doesn’t necessarily translate into a specific price change for a given home. That’s an important distinction. These figures also don’t include the prices of new builds unless the home was a spec and entered into the MLS system. So, for some districts with a lot of new housing developments (such as Olentangy), the prices may be understated.
This first chart shows the school districts closer to the actual Columbus metro market. (click on the thumbnails to see larger versions).
This second chart shows the school districts in more outlying districts. I’ve separated the large Olentangy district into east/west segments, with Rt 23 being the dividing line. So the west segment is largely the Powell and Liberty Township area. The east segment consists of the Lewis Center and Galena areas.
The Columbus metro market has traditionally weathered previous market downturns because of the diversity of the economy. While sales have slowed the past two years we’re still not seeing the really negative numbers that other markets may be experiencing. That’s not to say that sellers who purchased in 2003-2005 AND who did 100% financing won’t be in trouble if they try to sell.
As most local Realtors® will say, you buy a home to live in and enjoy a certain quality of life. You shouldn’t use it as an ATM machine or for speculation as you might do in the stock market.
Therefore, if you qualify to buy a home and have the down payment to do so, it can be a good time to buy now that the interest rates have dropped this month. It can be an extra special holiday present for you and your family.
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