Reva Owens, president of Middletown Board of Realtors, said she thinks the market is good right now because the interest rates are so low.
“I don’t think last year was bad,” Shelton said. “I think the market depends on more jobs in the area.”
“It will be an important year because it will be a start to more normal conditions,” said Shaun Bond, director of the University of Cincinnati Real Estate Center.
Real estate, rental and leasing activity is 10.6 percent of Ohio’s economy, the state’s largest private sector service industry, bigger than health care and social assistance, according to a Ohio Department of Development report on Gross Domestic Product. The housing industry generated services valued at about $50.7 billion in 2010, the most recent information available. The state report says the size of this industry indicates the role homeownership plays in the economy.
An improving housing market can fuel the rest of the local economy, boosting sales of appliances and other goods and services, Bond said. Spring is a crucial time for home sales. Last year, sales during the prime moving months of March to June comprised about 38 percent of all sales, according to Ohio Association of Realtors statistics on Greater Cincinnati.
Americans may be more eager to buy a home in 2012 because they expect rent and home prices to increase and believe their personal finances will improve, according to the Fannie Mae National Housing Survey released April 9. The survey said 73 percent of people living in the U.S. believe now is a good time to buy a home.
Homes are so affordable right now due to low interest rates and low prices, Bond said. Many are selling for far less than they did in 2005 as the height of the housing bubble, and interest rates remain below 5 percent on many mortgages.
Hanover Twp. homeowners Jeff and Jordan Lyon welcomed their sixth child in March. Needing more space and wanting to take advantage of good prices and interest rates, the couple agreed April 7 to buy a new home in Trenton for about $130,000.
“It’s definitely a good time,” Jordan Lyon said. The new house is 12 years old, has three bedrooms and a finished basement. It’s not much more expensive than their current $100,000 house, which is 30 years old.
She said the couple will list their current house for about $89,000, about $10,000 less than the purchase price in 2003.
The region’s homes sales increased for the eighth consecutive month in February, according to Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors. In the region that includes Butler and Warren counties, 1,155 homes were sold in February, an increase of 18.6 percent from February 2011.
“It is getting better and what I really like about it is it’s happening naturally,” said Joe King, president and chief operating officer of Coldwell Banker West Shell Cincinnati. “There’s no incentives driving this.”
For all of 2011, 16,824 homes were sold in the Cincinnati metro area, down about 24 percent from 22,262 homes sold in 2007. In just Butler County, total home sales were 3,254 in 2011, according to the Multiple Listing Service of Greater Cincinnati.
Building permits in Butler County have declined since North Pointe Group started keeping track in 2009. Last year, 377 building permits were issued in the county, compared to 528 in 2009.
Prices were up almost 15 percent in Greater Cincinnati for the first two months of the year over January and February 2011. Average sales prices were down 13 percent last year from 2007.
Foreclosures, lingering job uncertainty and tight credit are casting shadows over the housing industry as well, Bond said .
“Certainly one of the big issues that is still going is the high volume of foreclosure,” Bond said. “There’s still a number of buyers who have trouble getting the credit they need because it’s a very tight credit market right now.”
Cindy Flaherty, director of homeownership of Ohio Housing Finance Agency, said the biggest barriers to getting a home loan are the down payment and credit.
The agency offers mortgages through participating lenders with favorable interest rates and down payment assistance.
“People who’ve had recent problems financially are going to struggle to find a way to become a homeowner again. The best thing for them to do is to work to get their financial house in order,” she said. “But the future first-time homebuyer who hasn’t been through those kinds of issues, it’s mainly saving enough for a down payment and establishing a good enough credit profile to be approved by a lender.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or Chelsey. Levingston@coxinc.com.
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