Ohio's 2001 real estate market managed to keep ahead of its 2000 market but, suffering many of the same economic woes that plague the nation, the Buckeye State's real estate market has begun to flatten out like the state's Till Plains.

Statewide, sales of new and existing homes totaled 101,042 in the year-to-date period from January to November, a 2.1 percent increase from the 99,006 sales posted during the same 11-month period in 2000, according to the Ohio Association of Realtors.

The 8,254 homes sold in November 2001, however represented only a 1.4 percent increase from the 8,137 sales during the same month a year ago.

Statewide, average home prices were up 2.4 percent from January to November 2001, compared to the same period last year, but prices barely rose -- they were up only 0.4 percent in November 2001, compared to November 2000, according OAR.

"While other segments of our economy have slowed, the housing market in Ohio and throughout the nation has remained vibrant. It's a clear indication that the American Dream of home ownership is still appealing," said OAR president Terry Hankner.

The dream may indeed remain appealing in Ohio, but the pay off isn't as rewarding as it is in most states.

Ohio's appreciation rate for homes, 6.15 percent during the one-year period ending in the third quarter 2001, compared to the same period a year earlier, places the state at No. 32 in the bottom half of 50 states rated for housing appreciation by the Office Of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversite.

And buying a home has gotten tougher in some major metropolitan areas in Ohio where there's a heavy reliance upon manufacturing jobs. Ohio houses the nation's third largest manufacturing sector and the state's reliance upon manufacturing has helped push unemployment up from 3.5 percent in March to 4.7 percent in November, according to the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services.

Among signs of a slowdown, the state is conducting it's first ever back tax amnesty program that expires Jan. 15, followed by a crackdown on delinquent income, sales, property, corporate, school and employer withholding taxes, among others, to bolster state coffers by a hoped for $17 million.

"The Ohio Department of Taxation (ODT) will be launching an aggressive audit enforcement program when Amnesty ends, and the odds are a lot greater that we will find those who haven't been paying their fair share," said Ohio's tax commissioner Thomas M. Zaino.

Ohio lost jobs in December when LTV Corp., the state's largest steel producer, idled its remaining steel operations in Cleveland at the cost of 3,200 jobs. Last summer saw the sale and liquidation of CSC Ltd., a Warren steel bar maker, leaving 1,200 jobless. And the shutdown of the American Steel & Wire mill in Cuyahoga Heights, canceled paychecks for more than 200 workers.

Ohio's lost jobs and other economic woes contributed to lost sales in certain segments of Ohio's housing market.

While 2001's year-to-date sales in the Columbus area were almost 4 percent ahead of sales from January to November of last year, the month of November 2001 alone saw sales plummet by more than 8 percent, compared to November 2000, according to OAR.

Also, counties south of the Cleveland area monitored by the Centralized Regional Information Systems, revealed sales drops during both periods -- down 7.5 percent on year-to-date sales and down 4.3 percent on sales in November 2001, compared to November 2000.

Margaret and Ken Bures, agents with Century 21 Launders & Associates

in Mentor, OH, put the Cleveland market firmly in buyers' hands, ranking home price movements at 2 on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is solidly falling prices and 5 is solidly rising prices.

"Consider buying now. Sellers are motivated," Bures reported to RealtyTimes.com's Cleveland Market Conditions Report.

In the Cleveland area, prices rose only 0.5 percent all year, compared to last year, but fell 6.3 percent in November 2001 compared to November 2000, according to Northern Ohio's Regional MLS reporting for Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga, Median and Lorain counties.

It wasn't just Cleveland.

Looking at the bigger year-to-date picture, six of the 15 Ohio areas surveyed by OAR yielded sales drops. However, only two of the areas surveyed yielded price drops when comparing the year-to-date periods in 2001 and 2000.

The month of November, however, told a different story.

Six of the surveyed areas in Ohio yielded November-to-November declines in home sales and seven of the areas yielded price drops.

The November stats could simply portend year-end doldrums or they could signal tougher times ahead. "Flat" is the watch word for many markets.

"Conditions are unchanged in the past three months," said Dale Schmidt, an agent in Lebanon, OH reporting to RealtyTimes.com's Dayton Market Conditions Report. Schmidt put the market in the Dayton area firmly in buyers' hands with price movements at 2 on a scale of 1 to 5.

Cincinnati, one of Ohio's metros especially hard hit by recession, nevertheless managed to remain one of the state's strongest real estate markets. The city yielded across the board increases both in sales and prices and both the November-to-November and January-to-November year-to-date periods.

The city's real estate market strength comes in the face of the recession catching Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores ironing out its problems with its Fingerhut mail-order catalog subsidiary and eliminating 60 jobs from its Bloomingdales.com Web site operations -- changes estimated to cost the retail giant $50 million to $60 million in fourth-quarter profits.

Kroger Co., faced with competition from discount stores and drug retailers selling groceries, eliminated 1,500 jobs as investors rushed the checkout lane pushing shares down to their lowest prices since mid 2000.

Pink slips in March from Procter & Gamble went to 1,900 Cincinnati workers as the company restructured and braced itself for a $49 million lawsuit settlement to shareholders.

Also Cincinnati-based, Chiquita Brands International Inc. saw its stock slip to 42 cents by November -- about the price of one banana -- as the company attempted to peel away debt with a Chapter 11 bankruptcy late last year.

And nearly a third of the state's automobile dealers predicted a decline in profits for 2001, according to a survey by the National Automotive Dealers Association -- the highest rating of negative sentiment since 1991.

Nevertheless, Cincinnati saw sales rise 4.6 percent in November 2001, compared to November 2000 and it saw sales rise 4.2 percent from January to November 2001, compared to the same period in 2000.

The average price of homes in the city were up 1.8 percent in November to $153,949 compared to November 2000 and the average price of $156,072 for the January-to-November 2001 period reflected a 2.8 percent increase from the same period in 2000.

"The favorable conditions that have existed in the housing sector throughout the year, attractive interest rates, an ample supply of housing in every price category and resilient consumer confidence have contributed to an extraordinarily robust marketplace," said OAR's Hankner.

For more articles by Broderick Perkins, please press here.

Published: January 9, 2002

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.