Fewer homes for sale in April

Experts hope lower inventory means prices will start rising again, but they haven't yet

Friday, May 20, 2011 03:07 AM

By Jim Weiker

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Central Ohio home sellers have vanished with the sun this spring.

In April, 3,940 central Ohioans put a for-sale sign in front of their home, a big drop from the 4,640 who did so a year ago.

Those who track the central Ohio housing market are glad those 700 stayed home.

As the string of discouraging housing news continued yesterday, the only bright spot is the declining number of unsold homes.

Slightly more than 15,000 homes are for sale in central Ohio, compared with almost 19,000 a year ago. Experts hope home prices will finally start to rise again as inventory continues to decline.

"Housing follows the basic economic principle of supply and demand," said Columbus Board of Realtors President Rick Benjamin. "If inventory levels continue to drop, we'll see the price of homes begin to rise again."

Benjamin and others believe "recreational sellers" - those simply exploring the idea of a sale - have largely left the market, contributing to a decline in for-sale signs.

"You're going to see only the serious people out there right now," he said. "The recreational listers are underground. They're not doing anything."

In addition, some buyers have been scared from the market because of what they think their home will fetch. Average sale prices for central Ohio homes are down more than 13 percent from the $177,978 peak in 2007.

"There are sellers who have maybe tried over the past two years to sell who have just given up and are staying put," said Real Living HER agent Terry Penrod.

"And there are probably a certain number who are saying, 'It's just not a good time to sell, so I'm not going to bother.' And then there are a number of others, like those I see all the time, who aren't going to be able to sell without bringing money to the closing."

The inventory figures were released with April housing statistics that otherwise showed Ohio's long housing slump continuing.

In the Columbus area, home sales fell 25.9 percent to 1,620 units from the previous April. The average sale price fell 2.7 percent, to $154,205.

Statewide, sales were down 12.5 percent, to 9,119 units. The average sale price declined 4.6 percent, to $124,219.

Nationally, sales of previously occupied homes in April fell 12.9 percent from April 2010 and 0.8 percent from the seasonally adjusted March total, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Last year's sales were boosted by the federal home-buying tax credit.

jweiker@dispatch.com