Cincinnati housing market showing signs of recovery

Published July 14, 2009 at 12:00 a.m.
Recently released data indicates that the Cincinnati housing market is beginning to recover from the housing bubble burst.

Thenumber of home sales (1,658) and average sales price ($155,896) are twoof those indicators for those who find numbers like that useful. Another one of the more encouraging, and perhaps most important, piecesof data is that the inventory of homes on the market continues todecline and is now at a 8.48 months worth of inventory.

Realtor Alison Mosswith Comey & Shepherd notes that the declining inventory is a goodthing.  Moss indicates that you do not want too little inventory, butthat a healthy number is around a four to six month range.

Mosspoints to a number of items that have led to these improvements likethe current low interest rates, $8,000 tax credit and the affordablemarket in general.  Moss also says that this is the "peak season" forreal estate movement and that the decrease in inventory is partiallydue to the higher volume seen around this time of the year.

Alsohelpful for the Cincinnati market is the high number of communityprojects the Ohio Department of Development has done in Cincinnati(3,600) with another 800 in the pipeline.  Statewide Cincinnaticompares very favorably with the second highest average selling pricebehind Columbus.

But as the seasons are helping the current realestate trends, so is the economy.  Cincinnati's strong corporatepresence leads to a constant movement of people in and out of theregion, and helps to keep homes moving in an otherwise stale market.

"It'sreally going to depend on how quickly the economy bounces back," saysMoss in relation to the overall recovery of the housing market.  Theeconomy is being projected by some to start turning around at the endof this year, and Moss says that the turnaround is already being seenwith the improved numbers discussed earlier.

By next spring Mosshopes to see the inventory reduced to a six to seven month range, andthat the ideal four to six month range might not be seen for a coupleof years.  "It's not gonna happen overnight," says Moss who also saysthat some neighborhoods will bounce back earlier than others.

Writer: Randy Simes
Source: Alison Moss, Comey & Shepherd Realtors
Photography by Scott Beseler

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