Cincinnati-area home sales, prices rise in 2013

The Cincinnati housing market finished 2013 at a strong clip, with the number of existing homes sold rising 14 percent and the average price growing 8.6 percent in December from the year before, according to new numbers released Thursday.

Last month, homebuyers closed on the purchase of 1,591 single family homes and condominiums in the Cincinnati area including Butler, Clermont, Hamilton and Warren counties. That increased from sales of 1,393 homes in December 2012, according to Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors.

The December average sold price was $165,879, also according to the Cincinnati board, which maintains the area’s Multiple Listing Service for agents to track homes for sale.

The strong year-end numbers pushed 2013 to Cincinnati’s best for homes sold since 2006. Final numbers for all of 2013 show 22,977 homes were sold. By comparison, in 2006, 25,215 homes changed hands in the region.

The 2013 average sold price was $165,037. It was the highest since 2007, when Cincinnati-area homes sold for $173,997 on average.

Cincinnati’s housing market peaked in 2005 with 26,560 homes sold that year for an average $179,574.

The improving numbers have some local real estate experts wondering if the Cincinnati housing market is back to “normal,” and if the numbers pre-recession were inflated.

Just in Butler County, 4,683 homes sold in 2013 in the Fairfield, Hamilton, Middletown, West Chester Twp. and surrounding areas. Sales rose 22.5 percent from 2012, according to figures provided by the Cincinnati realtors group. In 2012, 3,822 homes sold in the county.

The average sold price in Butler County last year was $149,026, up more than 9 percent from the average price the year before of $136,400.

The “greater Cincinnati housing market continues to improve at a moderate rate, said Ken Parchman, 2014 president of the Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors, in a statement. “Our low inventory coupled with relatively low interest rates and stronger demand, has pushed the average price higher.”

Ohio’s housing market as a whole concluded 2013 with a nearly 15 percent increase in existing homes sold to 132,566 units, and 5 percent increase in average sold prices to $142,004, according to Ohio Association of Realtors.

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