The month of April was the continuation of a housing market trend that has seen new extremes over the past few months. Overall, fewer people are looking to buy homes, fewer people are looking to sell homes, but prices remain high and houses don’t stay on the market for long.
This trend has become sharply apparent in Warren County. County Auditor Matt Nolan said the trend considerably impacted the housing stock in areas that were historically more affordable.
“In general, we have seen much higher sales and value increases in the lower valued parts of the county,” Nolan told the Journal-News. “Anecdotally, I would say that is due to investors buying up properties.”
That pattern can be traced back to interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages hitting and hovering around highs that haven’t been seen in decades. Buyers in April 2023 dealt with an average rate around 6.32%; buyers in April 2022 dealt with 4.67%; but buyers in April 2021 could lock down a low rate of about 3%, according to FreddieMac.
The average rate entering June is about 6.57%. Before 2022, interest rates hadn’t hit 6% since 2008.
Below is the full housing market data, provided by RAGC.
- Butler County, April 2023:
- Closed sales: 318, down 17.6% from 386 in April 2022
- New listings: 400, down 20.8% from 505 in April 2022
- Median Price: $252,500, up 7.4% from $235,000 in April 2022
- Warren County, April 2023:
- Closed sales: 179, down 38.3% from 290 April 2022
- New listings: 225, down 41.9% from 385 in April 2022
- Median price: $355,000, up 4.4% from $340,000 in April 2022
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