By now, you’ve probably heard the various news media (national & local) reporting on the July housing data as compared to last July. The number of homes sold in July 2010 is down versus what was sold in July 2009. Is anyone really surprised by this? We knew it would happen, because the Tax Credit incentives merely moved sales to the first half of the year as those homes had to close by June 30.
I’ve never been one to just accept the info that is published because I know that there are so many caveats to the data. So I decided to relook the sales in MY service area: the Olentangy and Dublin school districts.
JAN-JUN Sales Comparison 2010 vs 2009
Olentangy: 478 homes sold with an average price of $328,996 in 2010. 397 homes sold in 2009 with an average price of $318,040. So for the first half of the year, the number of homes sold was up 20% and the average price was up 3%.
Dublin: 369 homes sold with an average price of $313,201 in 2010. 290 homes sold in 2009 with an average price of $313,516. So for the first half of the year, the number of homes sold was up 27% and the average price was flat.
JULY Sales Comparison 2010 vs 2009
Olentangy: 83 homes sold with an average price of $340,319 in 2010. 108 homes sold in 2009 with an average price of $313,211. The number of homes sold is down 23% but the average price is up 9%.
Dublin: 61 homes sold with an average price of $363,381 in 2010. 87 homes sold in 2009 with an average price of $330,215. The number of homes sold is down 30% and the average price is up 10%.
What does AUGUST look like?
Olentangy: As of today, 185 homes have closed or are in-contract. This compares favorably to the 104 homes sold last year in August.
Dublin: As of today, 111 homes have closed or are in-contract. This also is favorable to last year when only 56 homes sold.
This shows the danger in putting so much emphasis on just one month’s worth of sales. My fear is that with all the publicity July’s numbers are receiving, that it will influence current buyers to decide to not buy. This would be a mistake because they have much to gain with the extremely low interest rates.
Of course, there may be markets nationwide that aren’t as positive as the news we have here, but at least for now, we’re doing OK.
A local newspaper reporter called me this morning to discuss the housing growth that has occurred in southern Delaware County this decade. I’m usually nervous about talking with the media for fear of being mis-quoted. I hope he doesn’t do that.
After our conversation was over, I thought more about why the growth has occurred into southern Delaware County. I think there are several events that occurred that set the stage for it.
I-270 made it easy to go from one suburb to another. Businesses (jobs) built up around the various interchanges. Suburbs located inside 270 were land-locked with limited room to expand further housing.
Suburbs, like Dublin or Powell close to the freeway, had room to expand their borders. They also had easy access to the freeway with major roads such as Rt 315, Sawmill Rd and Rt 33 already in place.
Lewis Center’s growth was impacted when Banc One (now Chase) built the huge employment center and the nearby Polaris Mall was added, both outside of I-270. Old State Rd provided access to that employment so many housing subdivisions were built off of that road.
Golf Courses have played an important part to the housing growth as well. Dublin already had Jack Nicklaus’ huge Muirfield Village but then Arnie’s Tartan Fields was built north of Muirfield. Powell began with Wedgewood, then added Scioto Reserve and Kinsale (Golf Village). Shamrock and Safari are nearby, but they are not lined with homes the way the other courses are.
The southwest part of the county contains both the Scioto and Olentangy Rivers. I’m not a geologist but it seems there is more variance to the terrain between the rivers, providing more opportunity for the wooded, ravine lots that many home buyers like.
The southeast part of the county has the big water reservoirs with Alum Creek and Hoover. Both offer boating opportunities, albeit they have different motor restrictions.
Dublin and Powell already had groceries and retail, but those types of commercial buildings have expanded to keep pace with the housing. Dublin added Perimeter Mall and Powell added the shopping at Powell Rd and Sawmill Pkwy.
Some of the northern most housing developments in the Lewis Center area were several miles from groceries, gas stations, and fast-food eateries, but with the recent addition of some new stores along Rt 23 at Lewis Center Rd, that is changing.
Columbus State Community college recently opened along Rt 23 and Ohio Health is at a certain stage of providing convenient health care for the area.
More growth along Rt 23 between Powell Rd and Cheshire Rd was on the drawing board but it has been put on hold due to the economic downturn.
Southern Delaware County is primarily served with four school districts: Dublin, Olentangy, Westerville and Big Walnut. Olentangy covers the largest geographical part of the southern part of the county.
Like thousands of others, I’ve found the county to be a great place to live and work. If you would like to join us, give me a call and we’ll go house shopping.
Yesterday morning was Realtor® Day at the 2010 BIA Parade of Homes at Ackerly Park in New Albany. Eight builders have homes in this year’s Parade. All of the homes have been built to conform with New Albany’s strict design style. This year’s builders are:
I was short on time but did manage to visit 7 of the 8 homes. I missed the Knight home and I didn’t visit the second floor of any of the homes. I did manage to take some photos for you.
Some of the differences that I noticed this year were the darker wall & wood colors and extensive use of decorating textures, mainly stone. Ceilings have become fancier and the flooring on the main level was mostly wood or very interesting tile. Countertops were either granite or the new concrete, which according to one of the builders, is similar in cost to granite. And yes, that IS a wood floor in that shower photo.
The Parade lasts until August 8. Visit BIAParade.com for more details.
I’ve prepared a 10-Year chart for several school districts that shows the yearly change to the average price of the homes sold between Jan-Jun each year. This provides a good visual that illustrates how even though prices are improving, they haven’t yet caught up to earlier levels.
When sellers meet with a Realtor® to discuss pricing their home, often the agent will tell them that they can’t sell for a price higher than the price they paid for the home IF the home was purchased 5-6 years ago. This is especially true for people who purchased new builds in the 2003-2007 timeframe. Due to the subprime mortgage meltdown, prices began falling and especially deteriorated in 2009 when so many people lost their job. For 2010, we’re seeing prices once again rise – which is good news for the economy – but they haven’t risen to the 2005-2006 levels.
I should be noted that these average prices merely indicate what the price was that buyers were paying for homes in that school district. It doesn’t necessarily mean the seller had to reduce their price by the same percentage, however, they may have had to price their home more competitively in order to appeal to a buyer. Another caveat is for districts with fewer sales, where the sale of one high or low priced home can make the data more volatile. (Big Walnut is an example)
Click to enlarge graph, then click again
NOTE: I’ve divided the Olentangy district to west of Rt 23 (PO) and east of Rt 23 (LC) because it is such a large district and there is such a difference to the average prices.
Planning to buy or sell a home and not sure what agent to select? I just updated the charts that show the Top 5 Real Estate brokers by some school districts. Naturally Real Living HER has the leading market share around the Columbus metro area, selling more homes to or for our clients by a wide margin in most school districts.
How do Real Living agents do it? They have the support and tools of a broker that has been recognized nationally as one of the most innovative in the nation. So, check out the results for your area, then give your favorite Real Living agent a call. Hopefully, you’ll call me.
The first half of the year is now behind us. The Gov’t Tax Credit stimulus is kaput. We survived February’s wrath of 24″+ inches of snow. Low interest rates were maintained. Central Ohio real estate agents were busy selling houses. So how does the first half of the year look? Pretty good … pretty good!
Click to enlarge graph
This graph shows a comparison of the average price of single-family homes sold during Jan-Jun 2010 vs 2009. I use data by school district since that is the easiest way to track sales here in central Ohio. Notice that most areas realized increased prices over last year.
The largest year-over-year increases were seen in Buckeye Valley (up 16%), Gahanna (up 14%) and Big Walnut (up 13%).
Healthy increases were achieved by Worthington (up 8%), the Powell portion of Olentangy (up 5%) and Westerville (up 5%).
Districts that were essentially flat were Marysville (up 3%), the Lewis Center portion of Olentangy (up 2%), Delaware (up 2%), Upper Arlington (up 0.6%), Dublin (up 0.2%)
Only two districts experienced a decrease: New Albany (down 2%) and Hilliard (down 3%).
SOURCE: Columbus Board of Realtors, MLS System. Jan-Jun average prices for single family homes that were entered into the MLS system.
Helping home sellers & buyers with their real estate in Delaware & Franklin counties, including the suburbs of Powell, Dublin, Lewis Center, Galena, Worthington, Hilliard & Delaware.
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Emerald Ash Borer articles
Click image to read all the articles about my personal saga with the Emerald Ash Borer damage to my tree.
By now, you’ve probably heard the various news media (national & local) reporting on the July housing data as compared to last July. The number of homes sold in July 2010 is down versus what was sold in July 2009. Is anyone really surprised by this? We knew it would happen, because the Tax Credit incentives merely moved sales to the first half of the year as those homes had to close by June 30.
Planning to buy or sell a home and not sure what agent to select? I just updated the charts that show the 
