Good News for Brunswick: Low Rates and Stabilizing Home Prices

For a long time, market conditions in Brunswick have been excellent for sellers – and not so great for buyers. Selling your home fast and for a high price is wonderful but not if it means being stuck without an affordable replacement home. With this concern, many homeowners have held off on selling, prolonging our low inventory problem for more than a year.

But then something happened. About three months ago, prices had climbed so high that many Brunswick buyers left the market altogether. This reduced demand, and fewer bidding wars ensued. As a result, by September, we started seeing some price reductions and longer sales cycles for homes in certain areas. Prices are still very high, but buyers are getting relief from a better balance of supply and demand coupled with historically low mortgage rates.

In October, the median sale price of a home in Brunswick was $188,000. To put that in perspective, about this time five years ago, the median sale price was just $134,000! Over the last seven years, homeowners have enjoyed enormous gains in equity and as a nation, we have been enjoying a booming economy and job market. Since 2016, buyer competition for mid-sized homes has been through the roof. The cost of purchasing a home has outpaced increases in per capita income, shutting many families out of the housing market. Instead of prompting homeowners to sell, high sales prices have made many of them reluctant to move. But the good news for buyers (including sellers worried about buying another home) is that if we have not already hit a price plateau, it will not be long before we do. 

Consider that the median sale price in Brunswick in August was $194,000, the record-breaking highest price of the decade. Compare that to the median sale price in August 2017 of $171,000 and you’ll see that the year-over-year increase in home values last summer was over 13%. However, the fall months this year tell a different story, and point to a trend toward price stability. In October of 2017, the median sale price was $188,000, which means last October there was a zero percent change in value year-over-year. 

In addition to better home prices for buyers, mortgage rates in Ohio are excellent. The mortgage interest rate in Cleveland (and throughout the state) on November 18, 2018, was 4.73%, down a full eight basis points from the previous week. The current 15-year fixed mortgage rate in Ohio is even lower, averaging just 4.11%.

This is all good news! Buyers can lock in a great long-term fixed mortgage rate and have a good chance of finding a home within their budget. Sellers are still getting great offers, especially those with professionally staged and aggressively marketed homes, and they too can take advantage of low rates on their replacement home. 

Whether you are looking to upsize, downsize, or buy your first house, right now is a great time to make a move. Here at Bold Real Estate Consultants, we have decades of experience helping buyers and sellers in Brunswick. Give us a call today at 440-879-7260 to talk about your next move!