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It is still a great time to be a home buyer in the Columbus, Ohio area.  But, in my opinion, the real estate market has now started to turn in Central Ohio.  The market will gradually start shifting back to a normal market which is typically a Seller’s market.  There are 3 to 4 reasons why the real estate market in Columbus, Ohio is finally starting to change.

Reason number 1:  Mortgage rates bottomed out at a few weeks ago at a low of 5.125% – 5.250%.  We have seen the end to flat, low home prices and super low mortgage rates.  Everything will start to rise  (interest rates and house prices) from this point forward.  I predict, in the next six to nine months will still see rates in the range of 6.00% – 6.75% and home prices just modestly increasing.  As home buyers we can’t really complain, mortgage interest rates in the “6” range is still really good.

Reason 2:  President Bush will sign the economic stimulus package in a few days.  In financial terms, the 170 billion+ package will not actually do that much to improve the economy.  But, it will help a little.  The main benefit of the economic stimulus package is that the consumer confidence in the economy and our government will increase because we were able to get something accomplished, even though that “something” was very small.

Reason 3:  My personal buyer activity has increased dramatically in the last 10 – 14 days.  I’ve been receiving a lot of phone calls and emails from interested home buyers with questions and looking for help.

Reason 4:  It’s all about supply & demand.  The inventory in the last 9 months has continued to drop drastically.  The end of last Summer we had 21,000+ listings on our multiple listing service(MLS) system. As of right now, we have a little more than 16,300 listings.  Granted the drop in the listings is mainly due to the slow winter and holiday season.  But, it is still a significant decrease.  Even with the listings going down, we are still at insanely high inventory levels.  The key months to watch inventory levels will be May, June & July.  How these three months go will probably predict the rest of 2008.

This is my prediction on where we are headed in 2008 for the real estate market in Columbus, Ohio.  Back in September of 2007 (about 5 months ago), I correctly forecasted in 2008 that we would see all mortgage programs with rates well under 6%.  Review my 5.99% or Lower blog post.  I did receive a few emails and phone calls from lenders that didn’t think I knew what I was talking about.  These lenders didn’t think rates would go that low.  I guess I got lucky on that forecast.  Again, I could be wrong or I could be right on my latest prediction for 2008.   I still think 2008 will be a great year for home buyers.  But, the buyer’s market is sort of over.  Good Luck!

HomeBuyer Advocate Mike