Mahoning County Real Estate Market Indicators June 2012

Real estate markets are local, and do not necessarily reflect national or even state market conditions.  Let's take a closer look at the local real estate market conditions in Mahoning County.

The good news is that the market has been improving . . . slowly but surely . . . over the past year.  It makes the most sense to focus on what has happened for the first six months of the year compared to the first six months of last year, instead of looking at month to month comparisons, as they can fluctuate either way and the short term focus can be misleading.

New Listings:  There was literally one unit difference between the new listings taken in the first six months of 2012 compared to 2011, and new listing activity is still low.  What does this tell us?  (1) That the banks are controlling the release rate of foreclosures to maintain some stability, (2) homeowners aren't selling their homes to buy bigger ones; many homeowners have very little equity in their homes, if any, and can't afford to make the move.

Pendings and Closings:  Pending sales units are up 23.8% and closed sales units are up 15.8%.  Great!  It is taking about the same amount of time for homes to sell, which is 4 to 5 months on average, and final sale prices are approximately 87% of the listed price.  This is lower than it should be, and could indicate sellers' willingness to accept lower offers in lieu of keeping their houses on the market longer and waiting for a higher offer; and perhaps also realizing that their price expectations were too high to begin with.

Sale Prices:  The median sales prices for the first six months of 2012 are about the same as the same period in 2011 (+1.4%), and average sales prices are up 5.8%.  This does not mean that your house is worth 1.4% or 5.8% more, it is a reflection of the actual homes that sold.  These numbers are simply a compilation of actual sales and their sold price.  To receive a realistic evaluation of what your home is worth in today's market, Contact Us for a professional broker's opinion.

Inventory:  There is currently only 9.2 months supply of inventory on the market, which is down from over 12 months supply in June of 2011.  This hovers at the 'normal' range.  In certain price ranges and in certain communities in Mahoning County, there are more buyers than sellers.  I believe there will be pockets of price ranges in the most desirable communities that will experience an uptick in sales prices because of this situation.  We have seen quite a few multiple offer situations on nice clean homes in great locations.  If the property is priced right, buyers will compete for it and drive the price up.

We're very optimistic about the future of the real estate market here in Mahoning County, and also realistic about what our 'new normal' will look like.  There certainly are great opportunities out there right now for home buyers and investors alike as many of the barriers to buying are becoming less difficult to navigate.

To see the complete report with charts and graphs, that also includes Columbiana County, click on the attachment below this post.  This report is A RESEARCH TOOL PROVIDED BY THE YOUNGSTOWN/COLUMBIANA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.