There was little doubt, but new figures from the Toledo Regional Association of Realtors confirm that any lingering effects from the Great Recession on the northwest Ohio market are pretty much gone.y much gone.
In June, the average sales price of homes in the eight northwest Ohio counties covered by the association's multiple listing service was $143,839. Prior to the recession, the average sales price peaked in June 2006, at $137,159.
"And actually, we eclipsed (the 2006 average price) last year, so definitely some good news on home prices," said Doug Kwiatkowski, the association's president.
For the 12 months spanning June 2017 to May 2018, the median sales price in the region rose 3.8% to $122,500.
In June, home sales in the Toledo area (Lucas and upper Wood counties) increased 3% compared to a year earlier. They totaled 680 closed sales.
In the Toledo area median sales prices increased 6.6% to $139,900 from June 2017. The average home price for the area was $164,357, an increase of 4.3%.
In June, homes sold in the Toledo area had stayed on the market an average of 77 days, down 16.3% from a year ago, while active listings are down 12.5% from a year ago.
"Houses are selling fast, selling at really great pricing. I think our average price was up 4.3% from last year, making sellers pretty happy," said Kwiatkowski, a real estate agent at Remax Preferred Associates.
If there is a downside, the association president said, it's that homebuyers don't always comprehend just how competitive the Toledo area residential market has become.
"We're trying to warn our clients upfront — things are really tough out there. You have to bring your best offer right away," he said.
Kwiatkowski said he represented two clients who listed their homes on July 7. "Both of them had offers that were accepted in the first couple of days and one had multiple offers for it. Things are moving just that quick," he said.
The association president said he is friends with one agent who represented a client who received 10 offers for his house when he listed it for sale recently.
The frenzy of home buying has helped resolve several issues spawned by the recession, Kwiatkowski said. Among those issues are homeowners who were underwater on their mortgages — that is, they owed more on their home loans than their homes were worth.
"Ten years ago, three out of four listings were homes that were underwater. The seller had to bring significant money to the table just to sell the home" (and cover the remainder of the loan), the association president said. "Now we're starting to see those folks have equity and they can afford to sell their houses."
