Cleveland Real Estate Trends: More Stats on the West Side

Two more 'computer listing oriented areas' meaning they combine communities like Clifton Park and Bellaire Puritas. These stats are for tge number of homes sold between April and August for 2000 through 2007. The dollar amount is the average sale price during these months.

Bellaire Puritas, Westtown, Clifton Park

2000
209 Total homes sold during those months
$77,439 Average Sale Price

2001
177
$85,169

2002
185
$87,767

2003
218
$82,661

2004
232
$88,042

2005
215
$85,649

2006
180
$93,409

2007
$197
$70,425

Bellaire Puritas,West Park

2000
180
$105,461

2001
187
$106,713

2002
206
$107,819

2003
200
$114,527

2004
241
$112,630

2005
221
$112,921

2006
186
$112,234

2007
177
$101,995

Peace Out - 3C

Cleveland Housing Sale Trends 2000 to 2007

The last seven years have seen spikes in sale prices and declines on Cleveland's West Side. Some of the stats are interesting. In the area that includes Ohio City and Tremont, there were more sales in 2007 than any of the other years; the amount of money on average that sellers got for these homes was less than any other time. In general, bank owned/foreclosed properties play a part in these statistics because in each of these areas, there are homes selling for prices way below normal market prices. Anyway, here are the stats, and again, they include all homes sold with area brokerages. These are numbers of homes sold and the average sale prices for April through August of each of these years.

Old Brooklyn/Archwood Denison/Memphis

2000
163 Homes Sold
$85,460 Average Sale Price

2001
167
$92,295

2002
220
$94,920

2003
181
$98,929

2004
201
$102,547

2005
175
$102,921

2006
172
$92,338

2007
159
$80,109

Ohio City/Tremont/Clark Metro/Detroit Shoreway

2000
147
$66,596

2001
150
$76,509

2002
156
$74,547

2003
180
$85,592

2004
178
$79,255

2005
174
$92,579

2006
196
$79,362

2007
222
$65,719

Peace Out - 3C

Forbes Includes Cleveland Real Estate on Their Affordability List

There was a very good article in Forbes this week. Matt Woolsey reports about the affordability of housing stock in certain areas of the Country; and more specifically, certain cities. His description of affordability makes sense. The short version is, the median price matches the medium income. He points out that even if you don't have any money saved this year, ....it would take just two years of gross salary to become a homeowner...."

That means two years of saving for a home, which is reasonable and matches what my mortgage 'peeps' tell me. He was referring to Indianapolis at the time, but here are the other cities he included on the list for affordable homes:

Cleveland, Ohio
Indianapolis, Indiana
Detroit, Michigan
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Atlanta, Georgia (this one surprises me, their salaries must be high enough to fit the criterion)
Greensboro, North Carolina
Cincinnati, Ohio
St. Louis, Missouri
Dallas, Texas
Austin, Texas

Our median income is somewhere around $57k -- according to the article. Does anyone have stats to back this up or corroborate? It sounds high to me. They list the median sales price of homes here as $122,900. That does sound about right. While it is not the best time to list a home for sale right now, it sure is a good time to buy one in the Cleveland area.

Forbes on line has a slide show that also includes the median home prices for each community, along with photos.

The more I think about it, I thought our median income was below $30k, otherwise how would we have been voted one of the poorest cities? Sometimes (!!!) when you read an article you just can't take it on face value, I know, you all already know that!

Peace Out - 3C

Cleveland Real Estate News: Yearly Comparisons For Homes Sold, Lakewood and Rocky River

I have been crazy busy this week, but promised more stats and thought this might be useful. I picked two communities with sold housing stocks and thriving business communities: Lakewood and Rocky River. These are going to be statistics of homes sold for each year 2004-2007 (again, home stats cover homes listed with area brokerages). These combine single family homes, town homes, condos; these stats cover January through August 17th of each year.

Rocky River:

2007 188 Homes Sold
Average Sale Price was $244,002

2006 194 Homes Sold
Average Sale Price was $241,095

2005 189 Homes Sold
Average Sale Price was $231,815

2004 205 Homes Sold
Average Sale Price $245,043

Lakewood:

2007 84 Homes Sold
Average Sale Price was $281,433

2006 87 Homes Sold
Average Sale Price was $255,672

2005 344 Homes Sold
Average Sale Price was $185,018

2004 327 Homes Sold
Average Sale Price was $182,533

In both communities the sale prices are higher but the numbers of homes sold are lower. Lakewood has quite a jump in average sale prices. I'll be very curious to see what the stats look like for the next six months; will the volatility in the lending market affect these communities? What about foreclosure rates? I guess we can stay tuned.

Cleveland/Cuyahoga County Real Estate News: Brecksville and Independence Half Year Sale Statistics

Independence and Brecksville are adjacent communities so it seemed appropriate to do a comparison of home sales since January of this year; six months of stats for homes sold by area brokerages:

Brecksville:
81 single family homes sold
23 condos sold

The homes sold ranged in sale prices from $78,000 for a bank owned home to $1,375,000.00 for a new construction luxury home. The averages look like this:

• 2,906 square feet
• 4 BRs, 2 Baths and 2 car garage
• Average sale price was $310,649
• The average amount of days on the market for these homes was 71
• Average cost per square feet was $110

***There are 77 single family homes on the market as of today, in Brecksville, and 34 condominiums.

Independence:

20 single family homes sold

They ranged in price from an estate sale at $142,507 to $650,000. The averages:

• 2,399 square feet of living space
• 3 BRs, 2 Baths and a two car garage
• The average sale price was $285,047
• The average number of days these homes were on the market was 94
• The average cost per square foot was $119

There are 48 single family homes listed for sale currently, with area brokerages. (There are no condo stats for Independence)

Independence had a smaller inventory of homes for sale than Brecksville, and traditionally Independence is a popular designation neighborhood for home sales (lower taxes). These first six months did see Brecksville with a higher average sale price; the price per square foot was higher in Independence, but close. Peace Out- 3C

Cleveland Real Estate:Two Good Reads From Other Bloggers

I read two posts this weekend that I definitely want to pass on to everyone....the posters are not in NE Ohio but what they have to say applies to every state and all of us. Both of these bloggers are real estate professionals whom I respect tremendously and whose work I follow.

First, George Souto is a mortgage lender from Connecticut He wrote a post on zero down mortgages and what is fact and what is fiction about them in our current market. I definitely suggest you read this.

Next, Linda Davis (coincidentally, also from Connecticut!) has a story about a listing she had that just went under contract. She understands about pricing listings; she understands a lot because she is a broker who has been in business for about 30 years. So check out her post to get some great insight into what is important when you want to sell your home. Peace Out - 3C

Cleveland Real Estate News: Ohio City & Tremont Housing Sales

This covers zip code 44113, which includes Ohio City and Tremont. These 'first six months of 2007' stats represent homes listed with area brokerages.

• There are 93 single family homes for sale in zip code 44113
• There are 74 condos listed for sale in this zip code
• One condo and 4 single family homes are 'contingent' and waiting to go pending to close
• 21 single family homes are under contract and waiting to close
• 51 condos are pending as well, and waiting to transfer title and close

Sold since January:

• 22 condos
• 46 single family homes
• The average time on the market for these homes was 108 days
• Average Ask Price was $194,425
• Average Sale Price was $192,967
• Average cost per square foot was $92

**There are 93 homes and 74 condos listed for sale right now, as I stated; that is quite a bit less than the West Town and West Park area stats showed in my previous post. Zip code 44113 has not seen the huge wave of listings (and maybe less foreclosures?) than some other areas.

Peace Out - 3C Copyright 2007

Cleveland Real Estate: Housing Sales West Park/West Town

These are statistics for home sale activity for the first six months of this year. This post covers Westpark/Westtown, and as always, includes all home activity for homes listed with area brokerages.

• There are 423 homes on the market as of today
• 133 of them are 3 BR, one car garage single family homes
• Two homes are 'contingent' but under contract
• 80 homes have sold since January

The Averages:

• 1,276 square feet of living space
• The 80 homes were on the market an average of 72 days
• Average Ask Price was $101,334
• Average Sale Price was $97,103

**The least expensive home that sold ($18,500) and the most expensive one ($156,000) were both bank owned/foreclosure homes.

Let me repeat: there are 423 homes listed for sale with area brokerages in this neighborhood. I would say if you do not have to sell your home right now, now would not be a good time to test the waters!

Peace Out - copyright 3C 2007

Cleveland Real Estate: Zip Code 44111 Housing Stats

We are halfway through the year 2007, which is hard to believe no? Cleveland real estate in zip code 44111 is selling, but there are some shocking stats.

These figures - as always - cover homes listed on the real estate computer listing site, NORMLS, for homes sold through brokerages who list there:

Zip Code 44111: 114 Single Family Homes sold since January 2007

Here are the averages for those homes: 1,327 square feet; 3 bedrooms, 1 bath and a two car garage. Okay so far. The average asking price was $69,547. The average sale price was $66,837. That comes out to about $52 a square foot. The average number of days on the market for these homes was 84.

The other stark news is that the first 35 homes out of these 114 sold for under 50k -- and the first 46 homes were bank owned. Yes, there is a correlation. It's also sad because it affects the market values.

And btw, there are still 370 single family homes on the market in this zip code -- and that is only for the homes with 3 or more bedrooms. This puts a stark reality to the foreclosure issue. And sometimes reality bites. Peace Out - 3C