‘We need more listings’ in Butler and Warren counties, Realtor Alliance leader says

In a press release, RAGC President Anne Uchtman said the combined markets of Butler, Warren and Hamilton counties are still seeing houses sell quickly and for high prices, but noted a troubling lack of new inventory.

“One thing is for sure — we need more listings,” Uchtman said.

Warren County Auditor Matt Nolan said his office saw about a 50% decrease in year-over-year conveyances in February, a sure sign that the market has slowed. In October 2022, Nolan said that this decrease in activity was more or less inevitable as higher interest rates began to price would-be buyers out of the market, which reverberated to would-be sellers, too.

Heading into last month, the national average 30-year-fixed mortgage rate was 6.13%, up from 3.55% heading into February 2022 — meaning, prospective buyers last month faced a 72.7% higher rate than prospective buyers at the same time last year. Heading into this month, that rate reached 6.5%.

January 2022 marked the beginning of the substantial increase in national interest rates, which presumes that year-over-year comparisons will gradually turn more favorable, as the current high-interest market will be compared to last year’s rising interest market, as opposed to comparing last year’s rising interest market with 2021′s low-interest market.

Notably, Warren County’s median sale price saw a decrease in February, a first for either market since the Journal-News began tracking these trends back in September. Butler County, however, saw an 8.3% increase in its February median sale price.

The full year-over-year comparisons for Butler and Warren Counties are as follows:

Butler County:

Warren County: