Northeast Ohio home sales stuttered in September, cooling as autumn set in and as prices and mortgage rates climbed.
Sales of new and previously owned homes were down 5.9% across the region when compared with a year before. And sales slowed substantially from August, according to data from Yes MLS, a real estate listing service that spans 18 counties.
The declines weren't universal. Though September sales were off by 10.8% in Cuyahoga County — by far the busiest area of the region — they perked up in counties including Lake, Mahoning and Medina. Summit County sales were flat.
Monthly forecasts, based on pending contracts, indicate that statewide and national sales also might have dipped. September data from the Ohio Association of Realtors and the National Association of Realtors will be released Friday.
Buyers across the nation continue to struggle to find available homes in their price range. In Northeast Ohio, new listings still are down. And the homes that are listed are selling faster. Houses listed in September sold after an average of 62 days, down from 72 days a year before. Condos were listed for 56 days, on average, down from 74 days in September 2017.
And prices kept rising across much of the region. The average sale price for a house was $170,814 last month, a 6.1% annual jump. The average sale price for a condo was $158,248, for a 10.8% gain. Condos make up a very small slice of the regional real estate market.
Among more populous counties, with at least 100 monthly sales, prices climbed the most in Portage County. The average sale price there was $209,800 in September, up 17.9% from a year before. Summit County's average sale price rose 11.4%, to $175,588. In Cuyahoga County, homes changed hands at an average price of $180,100, up 8.1% from September of last year.
Homes in the region sold for as little as $1,000 and as much as $2.55 million last month, according to the listing service's records.
