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Housing Market Update February 2021

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housing market update February 2021 Columbus, Ohio

Just a week ago, I wrote about the Columbus housing market and how it was performing the past year. I used to do reports like that often, but hadn’t in years. Due to the overwhelmingly positive article response, I have decided to restart these monthly reports. Given the current state of the housing market, such information may be helpful to prospective homebuyers.

These new reports will be a bit more condensed than the one from last week. I will not list every location for every statistic as I did last week. Instead, I will still attempt to offer a general comparative view of the different markets within the region.

So let’s go!

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 February 2021
1. New Albany: $657,450
2. New Albany Plain LSD: $580,500
3. German Village: $569,500
4. Bexley: $517,000
5. Dublin: $502,500
6. Upper Arlington CSD: $450,000
7. Olentangy LSD: $434,900
8. Powell: $434,900
9. Granville CSD: $387,450
10. Worthington: $380,000
11. Buckeye Valley LSD: $378,240
12. Dublin CSD: $$360,000
13. Grandview Heights: $355,200
14. Short North: $350,000
15. Big Walnut LSD: $348,730

New Albany and some of the more urban suburbs and neighborhoods continue to be near the top of the pack in terms of price.

Top 15 Least Expensive Locations by Median Sales Price in February 2021
1. Valleyview: $129,850
2. Whitehall: $133,000
3. Newark CSD: $145,000
4. Lancaster CSD: $162,000
5. Hamilton LSD: $170,500
6. Groveport Madison LSD: $186,750
7. Columbus CSD: $194,750
8. Jefferson LSD: $198,500
9. Columbus: $210,000
10. South-Western CSD: $217,500
11. Circleville CSD: $224,000
12. Reynoldsburg CSD: $230,000
13. London CSD: $239,900
14. Obetz: $242,363
15. Blacklick: $245,000

Most of these places are outer suburbs outside of Franklin County or smaller locations that are less known or considered less desirable.

Overall Market Median Sales Price in February 2021: $225,500

Top 15 Locations with the Highest Median Sales Price % Growth Between February 2020 and February 2021
1. Valleyview: +93.8% (Based on just 1 sale)
2. Circleville CSD: +79.2%
3. Buckeye Valley LSD: +71.9%
4. Sunbury: +71.4%
5. Jefferson LSD: +52.8%
6. Reynoldsburg CSD: +44.9%
7. Worthington: +38.2%
8. German Village: +36.1%
9. Obetz: +31.2%
10. Marysville CSD: +29.9%
11. Dublin: +27.8%
12. London CSD: +26.3%
13. Olentangy LSK: +25.0%
14. Pataskala: +25.0%
15. Bexley: +22.7%

Top 15 Locations with the Lowest Median Sales Price % Growth Between February 2020 and February 2021
1. Granville CSD: -7.5%
2. Downtown Columbus: -6.6%
3. Jonathan Alder LSD: -4.5%
4. Grandview Heights: -4.0%
5. Powell: -4.0%
6. Minerva Park: -2.1%
7. Westerville: -0.8%
8. Pickerington: -0.7%
9. Canal Winchester CSD: -0.2%
10. Teays Valley LSD: 0.0%
11. Short North: +0.2%
12. Hamilton LSD: +0.3%
13. Beechwold/Clintonville: +1.3%
14. Pickerington LSD: +1.5%
15. Westerville CSD: +4.0%

Overall Market Median Sales Price % Change February 2021 vs. February 2020: +7.4%

Top 10 Locations with the Most New Listings in February 2021
1. Columbus: 830
2. Columbus CSD: 540
3. South-Western CSD: 135
4. Hilliard CSD: 102
5. Olentangy LSD: 91
6. Westerville CSD: 80
7. Dublin CSD: 73
8. Grove City: 65
9. Gahanna Jefferson CSD: 63
10. Pickerington LSD: 58

Top 10 Locations with the Fewest New Listings in February 2021
1. Valleyview: 0
2. Lithopolis: 1
3. Minerva Park: 1
4. Jonathan Alder LSD: 3
5. Jefferson LSD: 5
6. Sunbury: 5
7. Grandview Heights: 6
8. Obetz: 9
9. Worthington: 10
10. Hamilton LSD: 10
11. German Village: 10

Total New Listings in the Columbus Metro in February 2021: 1,932
Overall Metro New Listings % Change February 2021 vs February 2020: -25.4%

Top 10 Fastest-Selling Locations by # of Days Homes Remain on the Market Before Sale in February 2021
1. Obetz: 4
2. Gahanna: 8
3. Hamilton LSD: 8
4. Johnstown-Monroe LSD: 8
5. Pickerington: 8
6. Groveport Madison LSD: 9
7. Pickerington LSD: 10
8. Canal Winchester CSD: 11
9. Reynoldsburg CSD: 12
10. Gahanna Jefferson CSD: 13
11. Hilliard: 13
12. Worthington CSD: 13

Top 10 Slowest-Selling Locations by # of Days Homes Remain on the Market Before Sale in February 2021
1. Downtown Columbus: 72
2. Big Walnut LSD: 57
3. New Albany Plain LSD: 52
4. New Albany: 50
5. Grandview Heights: 48
6. Bexley: 44
7. Short North: 41
8. Circleville CSD: 40
9. German Village: 40
10. Dublin: 39
11. Granville CSD: 39

Columbus-area homes are selling at a blistering pace.



# of Days For-Sale Homes Remain on the Market Before Sale Across the Metro Overall: 26

Top 10 Locations with the Greatest % Decline of # of Days on the Market Before Sale February 2021 vs February 2020
1. Obetz: -89.5%
2. Pickerington: -83.7%
3. Pataskala: -82.1%
4. Pickerington LSD: -79.6%
5. Canal Winchester CSD: -78.0%
6. Hamilton LSD: -76.3%
7. Powell: -74.2%
8. Minerva Park: -70.4%
9. Gahanna: -68.0%
10. Groveport Madison LSD: -66.7%

Top 10 Locations with the Lowest % Decline of # of Days on the Market Before Sale February 2021 vs February 2020
1. Grandview Heights: +92.0%
2. Sunbury: +29.4%
3. Short North: +28.1%
4. Circleville CSD: +21.2%
5. Whitehall: +17.9%
6. Downtown Columbus: +16.1%
7. Worthington: +12.5%
8. New Albany Plain LSD: -3.7%
9. Jefferson LSD: -12.5%
10. Lancaster CSD: -18.4%

% Change for the # of Days Homes Remain on the Market Before Sale Across the Metro Overall: -39.5%

All this data can be confusing. Homebuyers must find the goldilocks zone of price, location and availability, and that’s difficult even in the friendliest of markets. Just because a local market may be seeing slower home sales doesn’t mean they’re affordable. Similarly, just because there’s a lot of supply doesn’t mean homes aren’t not selling out faster than they can go onto the market.

Columbus overall continues to have the most supply, but that’s far from the whole story. While the city added 830 new listings in February, only 582 were actually available for sale. This means that hundreds more homes were sold during the month than became available. The number of available homes only continued to shrink. Columbus’ entire supply would’ve sold out in just 18 days had no additional homes come up for sale.

And the thing is, nothing on the horizon indicates this situation will improve anytime soon. It’s not just that demand is drastically outweighing existing supply, though. Developers- when not faced with NIMBYism and zoning issues- are experiencing materials shortages that were exacerbated by the pandemic. Even when developers can build, they don’t always have the raw materials needed for construction. Unfortunately, these problems aren’t going to go away in the near future.

Given all of that, homebuyers have to be smart, they have to be very persistent, and they need to be prepared to spend more than originally planned.

For more information on the local market, go here to the Columbus Realtors site.



Housing Market Update January 2021

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housing market update January 2021 Columbus, Ohio

The Columbus area housing market update January 2021 report is now available! Let’s be honest, the current housing market is extremely tough to navigate right now. This is true not so much for sellers, but rather buyers who are finding it nearly impossible to find a home they like at a good price in the neighborhood they want. There are relatively few homes available on the market, and those that are tend to get tangled in bidding wars that ultimately jack up the average sales price for the whole area.

The cause of this boils down to one critical problem- supply. There just aren’t enough existing homes to meet demand, nor are there nearly enough new homes being built. NIMBYism, local zoning and more issues are generally preventing increased home density in and around Columbus, keeping many potential homebuyers- and renters- struggling to find a place to live.

I haven’t done a breakdown of the Columbus real estate market in some time. Because of the current situation, I thought it would be a good time to take a fresh look.

The data below is from the January market report, the latest one available.

First, let’s look at those local areas that had the most homes for sale.

# of New Listings By County, January 2021
Franklin: 1,291
Delaware: 187
Licking: 157
Fairfield: 129
Union: 64
Pickaway: 47
Madison: 28
Morrow: 27
Perry: 20
Hocking: 16
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Franklin County has the most new listing by far.

Change of New Listings by County January 2020 vs. January 2021
Morrow: +8.0%
Fairfield: -5.8%
Licking: -6.5%
Franklin: -6.6%
Union: -7.2%
Perry: -13.0%
Madison: -20.0%
Pickaway: -23.0%
Delaware: -31.0%
Hocking: -42.9%
New listings were generally down across all but one metro county, a continuing story even before the pandemic.

Average Sales Price by County in January 2021
Delaware: $430,684
Union: $312,742
Fairfield: $265,821
Pickaway: $256,235
Franklin: $253,852
Licking: $234,116
Morrow: $232,393
Madison: $231,396
Perry: $219,053
Hocking: $208,231
All counties saw the average sale price of homes sold exceed the $200K mark, but Delaware County remains the most expensive place to buy a home in the metro.

Change in Average Sales Price by County January 2020 vs. January 2021
Perry: +53.7%
Pickaway: +36.4%
Fairfield: +25.9
Delaware: +23.5%
Franklin: +13.4%
Union: +12.0%
Madison: +9.6%
Licking: +9.0%
Morrow: +8.9%
Hocking: -7.6%
All but Hocking County saw significant year-over-year sales price increases of homes sold.

Now let’s take a look at individual communities. Which ones were the hottest in January 2021?

Local Communities/Areas by New Listings in January 2021
1. Columbus (Overall): 850
2. Columbus City School District (CSD): 579
3. South-Western CSD: 173
4. Olentangy Local School District (LSD) (Delaware): 95
5. Hilliard CSD: 92
6. Westerville CSD: 86
7. Grove City: 77
8. Dublin CSD: 68
9. Pickerington LSD: 59
10. Groveport Madison LSD (Franklin): 56
11. Worthington CSD: 51
12. Gahanna Jefferson CSD: 50
13. Newark CSD: 42
14. Lancaster CSD: 41
15. Delaware CSD: 40
16. Upper Arlington CSD: 40
17. Pataskala: 37
18. Beechwold/Clintonville: 35
19. Gahanna: 35
20. Westerville: 35
21. Hilliard: 35
22. Blacklick: 34
23. Marysville School District: 33
24. Reynoldsburg CSD: 32
25. Dublin: 31
26. Teays Valley LSD (Pickaway): 30
27. Downtown Columbus: 29
28. Pickerington: 27
29. New Albany Plain LSD: 24
30. Short North: 24
31. Big Walnut LSD (Franklin): 22
32. Powell: 22
33. Canal Winchester CSD: 19
34. London CSD: 15
35. German Village: 15
36. New Albany: 14
37. Hamilton LSD (Franklin): 14
38. Buckeye Valley LSD (Delaware: 13
39. Bexley: 11
40. Worthington: 11
41. Granville CSD: 11
42. Obetz: 8
43. Johnstown-Monroe LSD (Licking): 8
44. Circleville CSD: 7
45. Grandview Heights: 7
46. Sunbury: 7
47. Whitehall: 6
48. Jonathan Alder LSD (Madison): 6
49. Jefferson LSD (Madison: 5
50. Minverva Park: 2
51. Valleyview: 1
52. Lithopolis: 0
It’s pretty clear that the number of new listings falls off dramatically outside of Columbus proper. Only a handful of suburban areas had more than 50.



Average Sales Price January 2021, # of Homes Sold and % Change vs. January 2020
1. New Albany: $788,943: 14: +8.4%
2. New Albany Plain LSD: $669,455: 20: +10.2%
3. German Village $637,550: 10: +2.3%
4. Olentangy LSD $494,911: 96: +23.0%
5. Powell: $493,087: 11: +19.2%
6. Granville CSD: $492,045: 6: +31.3%
7. Dublin: $468,902: 37: +17.5%
8. Upper Arlington CSD: $462,594: 26: -9.2%
9. Bexley: $438,288: 13: -17.6%
10. Grandview Heights: $437,010: 6: +8.5%
11. Buckeye Valley LSD: $403,616: 20: +40.9%
12. Downtown: $384,230: 22: -36.4%
13. Dublin CSD: $378,788: 78: +11.8%
14. Johnstown-Monroe LSD: $375,598: 12: +110.8%
15. Short North: $360,830: 10: -8.7%
16. Jonathan Alder LSD: $340,887: 15: +20.7%
17. Big Walnut LSD: $337,550: 14: -8.8%
18. Gahanna Jefferson CSD: $335,621: 34: +19.7%
19. Blacklick: $325,445: 32: +39.7%
20. Sunbury: $318,980: 5: +39.1%
21. Pickerington LSD: $318,093: 40: +28.6%
22. Worthington: $316,625: 8: +7.0%
23. Teays Valley LSD: $315,316: 21: +52.5%
24. Beechwold/Clintonville: $300,780: 43: +15.4%
25. Hilliard: $297,387: 25: +0.9%
26. Worthington CSD: $294,236: 40: +17.5%
27. Pickerington: $282,044: 18: +13.0%
28. Westerville: $279,126: $279,126: -0.9%
29. Hilliard CSD: $277,377: 92: +5.9%
30. Canal Winchester CSD: $276,299: 17: +21.7%
31. Grove City: $272,378: 47: +17.8%
32. Minerva Park: $269,580: 5: +21.2%
33. Westerville CSD: $265,781: 68: -3.3%
34. Obetz: $260,825: 6: +26.4%
35. Gahanna: $255,650: 16: -2.1%
36. Marysville CSD: $254,363: 32: +17.8%
37. Hamilton LSD: $245,750: 4: +85.8%
38. Delaware CSD: $245,526: 31: +21.8%
39. Pataskala: $237,293: 18: +26.8%
40. Lithopolis: $228,125: 4: -1.4%
41. South-Western CSD: $227,266: 131: +17.9%
42. Columbus: $222,124: 761: +17.0%
43. Columbus CSD: $215,256: 507: +20.2%
44. Jefferson LSD: $210,225: 4: -35.5%
45. Reynoldsburg CSD: $203,965: 34: +9.0%
46. Lancaster CSD: $203,095: 44: +37.5%
47. Groveport Madison LSD: $194,690: 43: +30.3%
48. London CSD: $190,733: 14: +43.8%
49. Circleville CSD: $183,546: 13: +5.3%
50. Whitehall: $165,361: 11: +68.6%
51. Newark CSD: $143,241: 51: +15.9%
52. Valleyview: $120,000: 1: N/A
As stated above, most areas in the metro are priced above $200,000 for a house. Columbus overall is still one of the least expensive options. New Albany is really in a league all its own. It should be noted that many of these average price figures are based on relatively few sales. Because available inventory is so low, the average sales price is being pushed higher. However, it is certainly possible to find homes lower- and in some cases, much lower- than the average price. This is especially true in Columbus.

Finally, let’s look at how long for-sale homes actually stay on the market.

Average # of Days Listings Remain on the Market Until Sale, and % Change January 2020 to January 2021
1. Valleyview: 1: N/A No sales occurred in January 2020.
2. Gahanna: 9: -74.3%
3. Groveport Madison LSD: 9: -69.0%
4. Hamilton LSD: 9: -50.0%
5. Worthington: 9: -72.7%
6. Reynoldsburg CSD: 10: -68.8%
7. Obetz: 12: -71.4%
8. Hilliard: 13: -61.8%
9. Worthington CSD: 13: -56.7%
10. Circleville CSD: 14: -76.3%
11. Lithopolis: 14: -61.1%
12. Marysville CSD: 14: -63.2%
13. Minerva Park: 14: +133.3%
14. Pataskala: 14: -46.2%
15. New Albany: 15: -88.9%
16. New Albany Plain LSD: 15: -83.9%
17. Pickerington: 15: -71.7%
18. South-Western CSD: 15: -34.8%
19. Teays Valley LSD: 15: -58.3%
20. Canal Winchester CSD: 17: -73.0%
21. Whitehall: 17: -46.9%
22. Hilliard CSD: 18: -48.6%
23. Lancaster CSD: 18: -52.6%
24. Westerville CSD: 18: -47.1%
25. Delaware CSD: 19: -51.3%
26. Grove City: 19: -36.7%
27. Beechwold/Clintonville: 20: -53.5%
28. Columbus: 21: -30.0%
29. Westerville: 21: -27.6%
30. Newark CSD: 22: -31.3%
31. Pickerington LSD: 22: -45.0%
32. Dublin: 26: -55.9%
33. Buckeye Valley LSD: 27: -44.9%
34. Columbus CSD: 27: -18.2%
35. Dublin CSD: 27: -41.3%
36. Jefferson LSD: 27: -46.0%
37. London CSD: 27: -32.5%
38. Blacklick: 28: -12.5%
39. Grandview Heights: 28: -37.8%
40. Gahanna Jefferson CSD: 29: -23.7%
41. Johnstown Monroe LSD: 29: -12.1%
42. Sunbury: 29: +222.2%
43. Jonathan Alder LSD: 35: -10.3%
44. Short North: 35: -47.8%
45. Big Walnut LSD: 37: -54.3%
46. Bexley: 44: -18.5%
47. Upper Arlington CSD: 46: -17.9%
48. Olentangy LSD: 49: -16.9%
49. Powell: 52: -8.8%
50. Granville CSD: 54: -15.6%
51. German Village: 56: -38.5%
52. Downtown: 96: +242.9%
Only 2 places in the metro saw an increase, with the big one being Downtown. This was most likely due to a few factors- last year’s protests and the pandemic reducing demand close to Downtown jobs. I would expect it to recover somewhat this year and certainly next year. Overall, though, most places saw significant drops in how long homes lasted on the market. Given that these are averages, we know that there were plenty of instances of homes flying off the market in just a few days.

Furthermore, the actual inventory on the market is 30 days or less. This means that if no more homes became available for sale, all the homes on the market would sell out in less than a month. In many cases, the supply would run out in just a few weeks.

Certainly, all these numbers indicate that Columbus itself is still one of the best options for home buying given its lower costs and greater supply, but even there, homes are selling in just a few weeks on average. There’s really been no better time to sell in a long time, but also no worse time to buy. Hopefully, this data provides at least a little insight into the local market and where one might fight the greatest advantages in finding a home. My recommendation is to use every available resource- from realtors to social media- to aid in the search.

You can find full data reports at Columbus Realtors, and links to Columbus area resources at Columbus Links and Resources

Happy hunting!