Lauren Fedor at The Financial Times writes that policymakers are becoming increasingly concerned about the rising price of housing for both homeowners and renters… (Financial Times)
Fedor looks at the housing market in Columbus, Ohio as an example of what is happening nationwide…
- PRICES: Columbus’s average sale price has jumped 15.8% in the past year. This is not far off from the national average which should “house prices in May were 16.6 percent higher than the year before, according to the latest S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller index update”
- TIME ON MARKET: “A decade ago, the average house in Ohio’s leafy state capital Columbus would sit on the market for almost 100 days before being sold. Today, a similar property sells in just 10 days.”
- UNPRECEDENTED: Michael Jones, a real estate agent at Coldwell Banker Realty with more than 20 years experience in central Ohio told the Financial Times “It has never been like this…It’s unprecedented.”
This is not 2008. Lawmakers aren’t worried about a bubble. What they are worried about is an affordability crisis. Fedor explains how housing prices are impacting renters. “The house price spiral is feeding into the rental market too. According to Apartment List, a listings website, national median rent has risen 11.4 percent so far this year, more than three times the average increase in the same period in the previous three years.”