Sales of single-family homes and condominiums for 2024 rose by 5.3% with 14,450 homes sold, bouncing back from an 11.4% decline in sales in 2023. More than 17,000 homes were listed in 2024, a nearly 4.9% increase.
Andrew Good, who was renting an apartment near Austin Landing in Miami Twp. after he graduated from college two years ago, recently found a three-bedroom home in Kettering and is scheduled to close on its purchase on Friday.
“After one year of renting, I was like, ‘I’m ready to stop paying rent, start paying something that’ll go into equity instead,’” Good said. “Rent’s been pretty expensive lately. I was paying $1,600 my first year, and it went up to $1,800 just the second year. You can get pretty comparable rates if you’re buying a house.”
He found his Kettering house in December, months ahead of when he had planned and for less than the listing price after a prior sale there fell through.
“I was aiming initially for April closing date, so we ended up two months ahead of schedule, but (my realtor) had told me that it was a pretty heavy seller’s market right now, and there could be contentious offers out there, just to keep an open mind about it, but I think we got pretty lucky.”
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
The Dayton area real estate market remains strong, with interest rates around 7% and a slight leveling off of median home prices, said Pat Corle, president of Dayton Realtors and vice president/owner and managing partner of Home Experts Realty,
“There’s still sellers out there willing to sell their home or move up or down into what they need,” said Corle, a realtor for 31 years. “Builders are building. Of course, they’re not building without a contract, but it allows more properties to be resold to those individuals needing to change homes.”
Corle said she sees the increase in home prices leveling off this year.
“I don’t believe the market is going to jump like it has been, just simply because toward the end of last year, the wholesale or the prices of homes did level off and kind of stick to the median price,” she said. “With that being said, unless there is a run on lumber that you get it really inexpensively, builders are not going to build really fast, and we’re going to be in the same type of market as we had this last year.”
While 2024 might not be as robust some other recent years, “it’s just as solid,” Corle said.
“Buyers who need a home and want to buy a home are going to find a home,” she said. “There’s realtors out there that are learning different ways to find them something that will satisfy their needs. There are a few new projects going up in Dayton, of course, and I think that helps us move things along. As more jobs come into the market, we’ll need more homes.”
The market is still favoring sellers, with 99.1% of listed properties selling at or above their asking price, according to Dayton Realtors.
“It’s more of a seller’s market right now, because fewer homes are on the market,” Corle said. “If we had more homes hitting the market, it would give buyers more opportunities to pick and choose. It’s not uncommon for a buyer to make an offer on possibly three or four homes before they actually get the offer accepted, because of the competition.”
Sales of single-family homes and condominiums for December 2024 dropped 4.9% with 1,025 homes sold, according to Dayton Realtors. The average sales price for December was $271,248, a 6.1% increase from December 2023. The median sales price also grew to $240,000, a 10.1% increase from a year prior.
Despite average prices continuing to rise, “the market is still pretty efficient,” said Austin Castro, a team leader at Coldwell Banker.
“If you’re grossly overpriced, or your conditions not where it needs to be, you’re not going to sell, which is, I think, why you see the increase in number of listings up as well,” Castro said.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
More homes sold than in previous years is likely the result of reality setting in, he said.
“The year before (in 2023), I think everybody was under this fantasy that prices were going to see some big pullback, or revert back to previous years and that just didn’t happen,” Castro said. “I think the consumer now has finally has come to grips with that and said, “OK, prices probably aren’t coming down ... so, if we want a house, or we need a little more space or a different layout for our lifestyle ... then we’re going to have to go ahead and pull the trigger and make something work.”
Castro said he also sees the market “flattening out a little bit” this year.
“I do not think prices are going to fall” he said. “I think we’re still going to see some growth. It’s not going to be the crazy growth we see. (There’s) a little bit more of a savvy buyer again, right? Buyers aren’t pulling the trigger on the first house they saw they see like they did a year or two ago. They’re doing their homework and doing their due diligence as they should be, making contingencies in regards to financing, inspections and so forth.”
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