Brisk home sales help fuel economy

Jun. 22—WAPAKONETA — Steve and Tonya Henderson of Wapakoneta know all about the hot housing market.

A friend of Steve's said he was desperately looking for a house. Steve jokingly mentioned his house may be available. That was on a Monday. On the following Wednesday, they handed Steve an offer he couldn't refuse.

"I called Tonya at work and asked her, 'How much do you love me?' She asked why, and I told her I just sold the house," Steve Henderson recalled.

The Hendersons are now busy looking for a new home. It hasn't been easy.

"We still have some time before we need to be out of the house, but there's not a lot out there," Tonya Henderson said.

May was another record month for home sales across Ohio.

In the Western Regional area, which includes Auglaize and six other counties, there were 2,069 homes sold in May, 89 more than a year ago, according to sales figures released Tuesday by Ohio Realtors. The average sales price was $183,133. That's $26,261 higher than a year ago.

Home buyers and sellers are facing a similar situation in Allen County, which is part of the West Central region along with Hardin and Van Wert counties.

"We have 215 active listings as of Monday. Five years ago, that number would have been 1,300 to 1,500," said Bailey Joseph, president of the West Central Association of Realtors.

The average sale's price in the West Central region for May was $160,498, which is $17,364 more than a year ago.

Joseph said a home selling for $160,000 in Bath or Shawnee townships would likely include three or four bedrooms, one and a half baths, a family room and living room.

In the Northwest Ohio region, which includes Putnam and nine other counties, the average selling price of a home in May was $182,709.

Joseph looks for interest rates to remain low and the market to remain hot through next year.

"A key now is getting more listings," she said.

Activity across the Ohio housing marketplace was brisk in May, as sales increased 19.8 percent from the level reached during the same month a year ago, according to a news release from Ohio Realtors.

The average sales price across Ohio in May reached $243,641, an 18.1 percent increase from the $206,240 mark posted during the month in 2020.

"Consumers are determined to achieve their ownership dreams despite the challenges that our current marketplace presents with historically low inventory levels throughout most markets," Ohio Realtors President Seth Task said in a press release.