New home building permits issued
Clark County:
2009 — 47 homes
2010 — 31 homes
2011 — 41 homes
2012 — 31 homes
2013 — 28 homes
2014 — 36 homes through Dec. 8
City of Springfield:
2009 — 20 homes
2010 — 9 homes
2011 — 11 homes
2012 — 8 homes
2013 — 3 homes
2014 — 8 homes through November
Champaign County:
2010 — 29 homes
2011 — 24 homes
2012 — 24 homes
2013 — 27 homes
2014 — 28 homes through November
In-depth coverage
The Springfield News-Sun provides unmatched coverage of jobs and the economy in Clark and Champaign counties, including updates on what’s happening in the local housing market. For this story, the paper spoke to local and state real estate agents, local construction firms and residents affected by changes in the market.
The Clark County housing market remained stagnant throughout 2014 as it slowly recovered from the devastating effects of the Great Recession.
Existing home sales this year were down about 6 percent compared to 2013, according to data from the Clark County Board of Realtors.
Local real estate agents pointed to a lack of available homes for interested buyers and a need for more higher-paying jobs as possible reasons for the decline.
“We’re in a deep hole and we’re climbing out of it, but it’s a slow process,” said Nancy Eubanks, a real estate agent for Lagonda Creek Real Estate and president of the Clark County Board of Realtors.
But business leaders also see signs of hope — fewer new foreclosures, higher average list prices and greater value of homes sold.
The housing market is an important sign of how the region’s economy and local families are faring, said Tina Koumoutsos, executive director of the Neighborhood Housing Partnership of Greater Springfield.
The organization offers services ranging from home repair programs to foreclosure prevention to educational programs for first-time home buyers.
“Home ownership is such a stabilizing force for families,” Koumoutsos said. “Often times it’s that equity in a home that allows kids to go to college, allows people to have a little control over their circumstances, and their repayment is going toward their personal investment,” Koumoutsos said.
State, national trend also
Relatively flat home sales can be seen across Ohio, the region and the rest of the country.
The number of homes sold in Ohio ticked up just 1 percent in November compared to a year ago, while they fell about 2 percent across the entire Midwest
Nationally, home sales were up only about 2 percent compared to the same time last year, according to information from the National Association of Realtors.
In Clark County, more than 1,230 existing homes have been sold so far this year, down about 6 percent from last year.
Champaign County fared slightly better, with 425 existing home sales to date this year, a 7 percent increase compared to last year.
List prices are up across the board, though. The average list price for homes in Clark County was about $103,800 this year, a roughly 7 percent increase from a year ago.
In Champaign County, the average listing price was about $116,000, a roughly 2 percent increase compared to last year.
Lack of inventory
Misty Berk and her family moved into a new home near Greenon High School in September, but spent about a year looking for a house before finding the right fit.
The family includes five children, so Berk said she wanted a home with at least four bedrooms. That was a challenge though, because the higher number of bedrooms also typically pushed homes they found out of their price range. As a first-time home buyer, Berk said she also initially knew little about the process.
“We were a little picky too because the school district was important for us,” Berk said.
The family eventually learned about Neighborhood Housing Partnership, and received assistance that included educational programs and an initial housing inspection to make sure the home was in good condition. Berk was also connected to a USDA Rural Housing program that helped her get a better loan.
“That helped a lot and reassured us before we spent any money,” Berk said.
A lengthy wait to find the right home is not unusual, Eubanks said, in part because of a lack of available homes on the market right now.
While prices for homes have started to recover since the Great Recession, many sellers remain cautious about putting their homes on the market. That’s one reason sales have stagnated, Eubanks said.
“The reason we’re seeing lower numbers this year is because our inventory all year has sagged behind,” Eubanks said. “We haven’t had the inventory that we had last year and part of that may be due to the number of foreclosures that we saw.”
Dramatic decline
Information from RealtyTrac, a real estate information service, shows lenders started the foreclosure process on about 319 Clark County homes from January to November last year. However, that figure fell to 229 foreclosure starts this year, a 28 percent decrease.
Overall foreclosure activity, including public auctions of foreclosed properties and bank repossessions, declined close to 50 percent in the county.
“(Foreclosure counseling) had been a huge part of our business line in the last four years but we’re seeing that taper off dramatically and we hope that’s a good sign,” Koumoutsos said.
High numbers of foreclosures nationwide proved to be a major contributing factor to the Great Recession.
Fewer foreclosures is a good sign, Eubanks said, but that also means fewer homes are available on the market overall. Many local residents also bought their homes before the recession and simply haven’t seen prices climb enough to the point that they are comfortable selling.
Credit also remains an issue for many first-time buyers, many of whom have recently graduated and have a significant amount of debt, said Michael Mahon, executive vice president of statewide brokerage HER Realtors.
“You’ve got a lot of the millennial demographic who are just now entering the housing market and what we’re seeing is a lot of those folks have very high student loan debt,” Mahon said. “With the economy being what it is, they’ve got a number of credit dings. Barring entry into that first-time home buyer market trickles right on up to the second and third-time home buyer.”
Little demand for new homes
Construction of new homes has stayed flat in recent years, said Kent Sherry, president of the Building Industry Association of Clark County.
More than 104 new construction permits were issued in 2007, according to information from the Clark County Community Development Department. But only 36 permits have been issued so far this year.
In Springfield, the city issued 20 permits for new homes in 2009, but only eight so far this year.
“The housing industry is still on shaky ground,” Sherry said. “There’s still a lot of hesitancy in the marketplace.”
Demand is unlikely to increase in 2015, Sherry said, mostly because many residents continue to face credit issues or are still leery about putting their current homes on the market. In the meantime, many local construction firms have instead focused on remodeling projects, which has been a bright spot.
“Everyone I talk to is very busy,” Sherry said. “Remodeling is not a bad thing because usually that’s a job you get into, you get done and you get paid right then and there.”
Stabilizing market?
Signs exist for optimism over the next few years, including an unemployment rate that has steadily fallen this year and major employers like Speedway that have announced expansion plans. The unemployment rate was 6.5 percent in October last year, but has fallen to 4.1 percent this year.
Clark County is close to a home ownership rate of about 67 percent, which Koumoutsos said is close to its historical norm.
“If the community continues to progress and add jobs, we may have a stabilizing market. But honestly I just don’t have a crystal ball on this one,” Koumoutsos said.
The housing market will improve if the county continues to add jobs, especially if it can find a way to attract jobs that offer higher wages, Eubanks said.
“This year we’ve seen a nice jump in sales price so that’s nice growth and I’m hoping we will continue to see that market in the coming years,” she said.
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