There is some good news recently put out by the Cincinnati Board of Realtors. According to the sales numbers the last 4 months have seen increasing home sale activity, a good indication that the Cincinnati housing market is beginning to recover. An even better secondary metric is that the overall inventory is dropping. This means that more houses are being sold than are being put on the market. Generally speaking a balanced market caries about 5 months of home inventory.

More sales and less inventory helps to return demand to a steady level. It is this relatively static demand that has given Cincinnati real estate has historically appreciated 2% each year. Although modest, it is steady and the recent positive changes in the short term market point to the fact that we will soon return to slow and steady long term appreciation.

Month 2008 Home Sales Inventory

January             1,130                    13.31

February          1,334                    11.32

March              1,557                      9.75

April                 1,636                      9.49

May                 1,913                      8.38