Home Sales Fall in Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky

The long run of home sales records in Greater Cincinnati slammed into a solid foundation wall last year as the number of home sales in 2006 declined by 4.5 percent compared to the record year of 2005.

According to the Kentucky Post, year-end sales statistics released Thursday in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky showed that 32,023 homes changed hands last year in transactions that totaled about $5.6 billion.

The decline throughout the region wasn’t nearly as severe as what was experienced nationally, where home loan costs forced many out of the market and sales fell by 8.4 percent. Sales declined by about 5.7 percent in Cincinnati, its Ohio suburbs and a sliver of southeast Indiana, where a total of 25,204 homes were sold.

The Northern Kentucky Association of Realtors said 6,819 homes - or 2.4 percent fewer than 2005 - sold during 2006.

Cincinnati and its suburbs had reported record sales for six consecutive years, through 2005, as the residential real estate market throughout the country boomed - due in large part to low Ohio mortgage and Kentucky mortgage rates, a strong economy and low unemployment.

Home sales in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky set four consecutive annual records from 2002 to 2005, when the total value of transactions topped $1 billion for the first time. But a saturated market and rising interest rates resulted in a slowdown in sales.

• Sales declined by nearly 6 percent in Cincinnati, where 1,668 homes were sold for an average price of $174,830, or about 3 percent less than the average price a year earlier.
• In Northern Kentucky, December home sales fell by about 9 percent on a year-to-year basis to 468 homes and the average price increased by about $500.

Although the number of sales declined in 2006 throughout the Midwest, Northern Kentucky topped the billion dollar mark again, as area home buyers paid nearly $1.07 billion for Northern Kentucky homes last year.

“We’re pretty excited that we broke the one billion dollar mark again and had our second best year ever,” said Janie Wilson, associate manager of the Sibcy Cline office in Ft. Mitchell, who added that she thinks sales have picked up during the first month of the new year.

The average asking price in Cincinnati last year was $178,298, which represented, roughly the same as in 2005. The average price in Northern Kentucky was $153,152, up $510 over the average for all of 2005.

Tom Steele, president of the Cincinnati area board of realtors, found some solace in the fact that the Cincinnati numbers - including those in the northern portions of the Kentucky housing market - were better than the national average.

“Considering the downward trend of home sales across the nation in ‘06, Cincinnati didn’t perform too badly,” Steele said in a statement. “First-time buyers last year fared pretty well. It was some move-up buyers who had difficulty, since most of the buyers sell their home before buying their next one.”