Mason Ohio 45040 Single Family Home Residential Market Report August 2012

Mason Ohio 45040 Single Family Home Residential Market Report August 2012

How did August treat the Mason Ohio single family home real estate market?  Pretty well!  Volumes were up significantly, although average and median prices dropped slightly due to a drop off in luxury home purchases.  Mason continues to be the most in demand living destination in Warren County. 

Mason is home to many professionals and upper management and as such is more resistant to market changes than other market segments, and also the first to recover.  Stay with us for the full details.  We've covered Mason condos in our Mason Ohio 45040 Condo Market Report August 2012. 

All data is derived from the Cincinnati MLS system and involves only Mason homes sold with  REALTOR® involvement and entered in MLS. All data is for the Mason School District area, so is not limited solely to Mason city limits. 

With Mason being named #24 on the Money Magazine Top 100 Best Places To Live list for 2011, Mason received recognition that area residents already knew was well deserved!  With top notch public schools, extensive entertainment and dining options, and a premier community center combined with superb accessibility to downtown Cincinnati.

Mason offers a full range of price points.  There are a number of older developments featuring 1950s and 1960s vintage brick ranch homes to the other end of the spectrum with golf course community homes in excess of $1 million dollars!  In general, you can expect to pay a premium for Mason homes when compared to communities further away from Cincinnati.

So, on to the data!
 
First up is the number of Mason single family homes sold on a month by month basis for 2010, 2011 and 2012:

Next is the Mason median price summary chart.

Mason Single Family Home Category Data Summary:

Homes Sold:  70  (5 Bank/Government Owned, 1 Short Sale)  UP 19

Average Price:  $286,535  DOWN

Median Price:  $269,350 DOWN

Days on Market Average:  66 DOWN 3

Homes Active 9/6/12:  223 DOWN 11

Homes Pending 9/6/12:  78 DOWN 20

Average Sales/List %:  95.8% UP .6%

Most Expensive Home Sold:  $665,000

Least Expensive Home Sold:  $51,500

So what does this all mean?  Overall, the Mason single family home market segment continues to set the pace for Warren County.  There was a significant surge in month end SOLD homes, so the 70 number may still climb as a few stragglers get entered into MLS.  While we'd have preferred to see home prices continue to climb, two factors contributed:  the bank owned sales were almost all below $150k, and there were a few less higher end sales recorded (note the $665k max sale).  That doesn't mean the higher end isn't having transactions, it's that some new construction custom building at places like Heritage Club don't necessarily make it to MLS.

It's also good to see the 20 home drop in Pendings to 78 as that means some homes that have been waiting for an extended period of time finally completed their sales.  78 Pending is still enough to equal the next two months of sales when you tally 2011 & 2010 sales.  We do expect a bit of a slowdown in the market now that school has started.

The increase in sales/list % indicates homes that are selling are accurately priced, but buyers are having to pay a bit closer to list to complete the deal.  Buyers are still getting a bit of a discount.

In particular, great condition homes either side of $200k continue to be in high demand, particularly for first time home buyers.  Our experience has been homes in that niche WILL get plenty of activity.  Further, there's more sales than indicated here as new construction is on the upswing also, and not all new construction is reported via MLS.

The proportion of distressed properties (bank/government owned and short sales) is negligible.   Short sales can involve a tremendous amount of waiting for the buyers.

So what does this mean to you as a Mason single family home owner?  The same as last month.  We're really not seeing a reason to wait if you're wanting to sell. The metrics are demonstrating normal variation.  MASON CONTINUES TO BE A HIGH DEMAND AREA!  Many communities reflect days on market times that significantly beat the 69 days mentioned above.  If you're in the sweet spot of $175-300k your odds of a quicker sale increase significantly.  There are some segments of the market without enough inventory to totally satisfy demand.  This works in your benefit. 

Luxury home sales are still slower than the remainder of the Mason single family home market. 

For an evaluation of your home's marketability, please contact us.  And of course your personal circumstances will have impact.  We'll give you the best advice, whether to start now, or hold off until next year.

So what does this mean to you as a potential Mason home buyer?  There's no reason for us to change our recommendation from prior months:  STOP WAITING!  There's inventory (although down a bit) and new construction to be built, but it's a competitive market.  WAITING LONGER TO MAKE A PURCHASE IS RISKING GETTING THE HOME YOU WANT!   The longer you wait to purchase a Mason home the more likely it's going to cost you more to buy later.  When you're interested in buying a Mason home, please contact us with your needs and we'll help you find the right Mason community for you!  Continuing to wait may force you to either buy less home for your dollar, or adjust to another area that gives you more home for your dollar.

Serving Mason's home buyers and sellers,
Liz and Bill aka BLiz