For the Columbus economy May 2022 report, we will look for any signs that the local economy is being negatively affected by ongoing inflation and higher energy prices.
Overall Metro Area May 2022 and Change from May 2021 Labor Force: 1,132,871 +24,699 Employed: 1,100,438 +43,723 Unemployed: 32,433 -19,024 Unemployment Rate: 2.9% -1.7 Total Non-Farm Jobs: 1,123,200 +28,300
The 2.9% May unemployment rate for the Columbus metro remains one of the lowest in more than 30 years, and all metrics were better than they were a year ago.
Overall Metro Area May 2022 and Change from February 2020 (Pre-Pandemic) Labor Force: 1,132,871 +12,067 Employed: 1,100,438 +23,598 Unemployed: 32,433 -11,531 Unemployment Rate: 2.9% -1.0 Total Non-Farm Jobs: 1,123,200 +11,800 The metro area has surpassed pre-pandemic data across the board.
Now let’s view the results by industry.
Mining/Logging/Construction 5/2020———–5/2021———-5/2022 43,200————45,700———47,500 This industry has fully recovered from the pandemic and continues to set new highs.
Manufacturing 5/2020———–5/2021———-5/2022 66,700———–71,900———-72,300 Although manufacturing has largely recovered from pandemic lows, it remains *well* below anytime before 2000.
Trade/Transportation/Utilities 5/2020———–5/2021———-5/2022 205,400———-221,000———238,000 This industry is at 30 year highs.
Information 5/2020———–5/2021———-5/2022 15,500———–15,600———-16,600 The industry has been in somewhat of a decline overall since the Dot.com boom of the late 1990s. It recovered most pandemic losses, but seems unlikely to do much better in the long run.
Financial Activities 5/2020———–5/2021———-5/2022 83,900———–84,500———-83,700 Financial activities jobs have declined slightly since recovering its pandemic losses.
Professional and Business Services 5/2020———–5/2021———-5/2022 166,500———-179,600———178,200 As with the financial activities industry, this industry initially recovered from the pandemic, but has stagnated a bit since then.
Education and Health Services 5/2020———–5/2021———-5/2022 145,600———-159,700———158,800 These industries have been somewhat stagnant as well since around October, 2020.
Leisure and Hospitality 5/2020———–5/2021———-5/2022 69,000———-97,200———-107,600 This industry was arguably hit the hardest of any during the pandemic crash, but have recovered fairly strongly since then. However, because the fall was so great, it has not completely come back to date.
Other Services 5/2020———–5/2021———-5/2022 32,800———–39,800———-41,500 This industry is on track for full recovery by late summer.
Government 5/2020———–5/2021———-5/2022 177,500———-179,900———179,000 Government jobs remain below where they were pre-pandemic, and have shown little movement either way.
Overall, the metro has recovered from the pandemic and most metrics are generally positive, but not all industries are doing equally well. There remains no sign of any impending downturn.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the source of this data, is useful for local employment data for any metro area in the United States.
In this latest edition of the Housing Market Update May 2022, we see that home prices continue to reach record levels in the metro area, and houses are selling faster than ever. With rising mortgage interest rates, will the region eventually see a slowdown?
Note: LSD= Local School District, CSD= City School District. In both cases, school district boundaries differ from city boundaries.
Top 15 Most Expensive Locations By Median Sales Price in May 2022 1. New Albany: $789,900 2. New Albany Plain LSD: $650,000 3. Big Walnut LSD: $572,127 4. Powell: $565,000 5. Upper Arlington CSD: $558,000 6. Dublin: $555,000 7. Grandview Heights: $545,000 8. Granville CSD: $530,000 9. Dublin CSD: $515,000 10. Olentangy LSD: $505,000 11. Buckeye Valley LSD: $495,000 12. Worthington: $481,000 13. German Village: $475,000 14. Bexley: $470,000 15. Pickerington: $444,000 16. Canal Winchester CSD: $430,000 Several suburbs now have median prices at or above half a million dollars, with several others not too far behind.
Top 15 Least Expensive Locations by Median Sales Price in May 2022 1. Lancaster CSD: $175,000 2. Miami Trace LSD: $180,000 3. Newark CSD: $184,000 4. Circleville CSD: $187,500 5. Whitehall CSD: $205,000 6. Jefferson LSD: $220,000 7. London CSD: $227,450 8. Groveport Madison LSD: $243,000 9. Hamilton LSD: $256,700 10. Obetz: $256,700 11. Columbus CSD: $257,500 12. Columbus: $277,750 13. Reynoldsburg CSD: $280,500 14. Minerva Park: $291,500 15. South Western CSD: $295,450 On the opposite side of things, even some of the cheapest markets are approaching the $300K mark. Columbus itself remains *relatively* affordable in comparison to the market overall.
Overall Market Median Sales Price in May: $303,460 Based on the 10 Columbus Metro Area counties.
Top 15 Locations with the Highest Median Sales Price % Growth Between May 2021 and May 2022 1. Canal Winchester CSD: +65.4% 2. Big Walnut LSD: +50.4% 3. Whitehall: +48.6% 4. Northridge LSD: +42.6% 5. Groveport Madison LSD: +39.0% 6. Grandview Heights: +38.3% 7. Granville CSD: +31.7% 8. Gahanna: +27.6% 9. Teays Valley LSD: +26.4% 10. Pataskala: +26.3% 11. Pickerington: +25.1% 12. Downtown: +24.3% 13. Johnstown-Monroe LSD: +23.5% 14. Powell: +22.8% 15. Sunbury: +22.5%
Top 15 Locations with the Lowest Median Sales Price % Growth Between May 2021 and May 2022 1. German Village: -24.6% 2. Miami Trace LSD: -19.3% 3. Obetz: -14.0% 4. Bexley: -5.5% 5. Delaware CSD: -4.7% 6. New Albany: -2.5% 7. Minerva Park: -2.2% 8. Lancaster CSD: -0.6% 9. Newark CSD: -0.1% 10. Jonathan Alder LSD: 0.0% 11. Short North: 0.5% 12. London CSD: +1.1% 13. Westerville: +2.4% 14. Circleville CSD: +3.0% 15. Beechwold/Clintonville: +3.5% So far, the “Intel Effect” has yet to kick in in places like Newark and some Northeast Side communities. Only Johnstown is seeing a significant price increase. This may have to do with some of these places already being overvalued, especially New Albany.
Overall Market Median Sales Price % Change May 2022 vs. May 2021:+14.5% Based on 53 metro market locations.
Top 10 Locations with the Most New Listings in May 2022 1. Columbus: 1,337 2. Columbus CSD: 898 3. Olentangy LSD: 214 4. South Western CSD: 210 5. Hilliard CSD: 162 6. Dublin CSD: 146 7. Westerville CSD: 139 8. Worthington CSD: 94 9. Dublin: 90 10. Lancaster CSD: 88
Top 10 Locations with the Fewest New Listings in May 2022 1. Valleyview: 0 2. Lithopolis: 2 3. Minerva Park: 5 4. Obetz: 6 5. Jefferson LSD: 12 6. Northridge LSD: 14 7. Johnstown-Monroe LSD: 15 8. Miami Trace LSD: 18 9. Sunbury: 20 10. Granville CSD: 20 11. German Village: 21
Total New Listings in the Columbus Metro in May 2022:+3,362 Overall Metro New Listings % Change May 2022 vs May 2021:-3.1% New listings fell in May year-over-year even though the late spring is often a time when more homes go onto the market. Franklin County had one of the largest declines in inventory, dropping about 6.9%.
Top 10 Fastest-Selling Locations by # of Days Homes Remain on the Market Before Sale in May 2022 1. Grandview Heights: 3 2. Canal Winchester CSD: 4 3. Hilliard: 4 4. Miami Trace LSD: 4 5. Minerva Park: 4 6. Westerville: 4 7. Westerville CSD: 4 8. German Village: 5 9. Hilliard CSD: 5 10. Marsyville CSD: 5 11. Powell: 5 12. Reynoldsburg CSD: 5 13. Sunbury: 5 14. Worthington: 5 15. Worthington CSD: 5 16. Bexley: 6 17. Dublin: 6 18. Groveport Madison LSD: 6 19. Jefferson LSD: 6 20. Pickerington: 6 21. Hamilton LSD: 7 22. Lancaster CSD: 7 23. Newark CSD: 7 24. Pickerington LSD: 7 25. Upper Arlington CSD: 7 26. Whitehall: 7 27. Beechwold/Clintonville: 8 28. Gahanna: 8 29. Delaware CSD: 9 30. South Western CSD: 9 31. Blacklick: 10 32. Columbus: 10 33. Johnstown-Monroe LSD: 10 34. Gahanna Jefferson LSD: 12 35. Dublin CSD: 13 36. Grove City: 13
The “Top 10” became the Top 36 just given that most of the local markets are selling so similarly quickly. There is relatively little spread between the fastest and slowest-selling markets, with some obvious exceptions.
Top 10 Slowest-Selling Locations by # of Days Homes Remain on the Market Before Sale in May 2022 1. Northridge LSD: 84 2. Downtown: 75 3. New Albany: 29 4. Buckeye Valley LSD: 28 5. Granville CSD: 27 6. Teays Valley LSD: 27 7. London CSD: 26 8. Short North: 25 9. Jonathan Alder LSD: 22 10. Big Walnut LSD: 20 11. New Albany LSD: 19 12. Obetz: 19 13. Pataskala: 19
Top 10 Locations with the Greatest % Decline of # of Days on the Market Before Sale May 2022 vs. May 2021 1. Bexley: -76.0% 2. Jefferson LSD: -73.9% 3. Lancaster CSD: -72.0% 4. Dublin: -68.4% 5. Johnstown-Monroe LSD: -64.3% 6. Grandview Heights: -62.5% 7. Reynoldsburg CSD: -58.3% 8. Short North: -51.0% 9. Hamilton LSD: -50.0% 10. Hilliard: -50.0% 11. Westerville: -50.0% 12. Hilliard CSD: -44.4%
Top 10 Locations with the Lowest % Decline of # of Days on the Market Before Sale May 2022 vs. May 2021 1. Northridge LSD: +1,300.0% 2. Jonathan Alder LSD: +633.3% 3. Valleyview: +400.0% 4. London CSD: +188.9% 5. New Albany: +141.7% 6. New Albany LSD: +111.1% 7. Downtown: +92.3% 8. Granville CSD: +80.0% 9. Circleville CSD: +77.8% 10. Teays Valley LSD: +68.8%
% Change for the # of Days Homes Remain on the Market Before Sale Across the Metro Overall: 15.6 Overall Metro Days on Market % Change May 2022 vs May 2021: -1.3%
Columbus Realtors offers monthly housing reports and other data back several years.
