This month's hottest housing market? Sharonville
Each month during the busy spring and summer sales season, The Enquirer will use the latest housing data to spotlight the most competitive markets in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.
Where was the hottest local housing market in March?
Sharonville was the most competitive home sales market in the Cincinnati metro area in March, according to the latest figures from Redfin, a national real estate brokerage.
Redfin assigns a "compete score" to thousands of neighborhoods it tracks nationwide, based primarily on the share of homes sold at or above list price and sold in the fewest number of days on the market.
Last month, Sharonville scored 90 on Redfin's competitiveness scale of 1 to 100, ranking higher than any other neighborhood in Southwest Ohio or Northern Kentucky.
How hot is Sharonville's housing market?
The typical Sharonville home sold last month in an average of seven days for a median price of $235,000, up 1.3% from last year, according to Redfin's numbers.
More than 57% of Sharonville homes sold above list price last month, Redfin data shows, indicating fierce competition among buyers forced to up the ante to close the deal on a home purchase.
Limited housing inventory still near historic lows has created similar conditions in neighborhoods across the Cincinnati area, The Enquirer recently reported.
What's driving the housing demand in Sharonville?
Sharonville, with a population of just over 14,000, is attractive to many homebuyers because it's a safe, tidy neighborhood with a lot to do, said Tanya Tchervinski, a Coldwell Banker real estate agent.
It has a quaint, historic downtown with landmark gathering spots, such as The Root Beer Stand, which opened in 1957 and is famous for its footlong cheese coneys and homemade root beer.
"This has always been a high-demand area," said Tchervinski. "It's a quiet area with a lot of amenities that attracts everyone from first-time homebuyers to families."
Sharonville's home prices may be one of its biggest attractions at a time when rising mortgage rates have made houses less affordable for many potential buyers.
Sharonville more affordable than rest of metro area
Prices are high in most metro area locations, but the median sales price in Sharonville last month was $39,000 less than the $274,000 median price for the metro area in February, according to the most recent figures from Redfin.
Despite Sharonville's relative affordability, buyers are still likely to find themselves caught up in bidding wars and offering more for a house than they originally budgeted without much time to consider whether the home is worth it. Tchervinski said she had six offers in two days on a two-bedroom, two-bath condo she listed in Sharonville in early April. The property was pending for sale in less than a week at a price well above the original asking price of $240,000, she said.
"It's the same everywhere," Tchervinski said.
Metro area ranks high for hot housing markets in Ohio and Kentucky
In addition to Sharonville, five other Cincinnati-area markets were ranked last month on Redfin's list of the Top 10 most competitive markets in Ohio:
Brunswick
Sharonville
Stow
Maineville
Norwood
Uniontown
Delhi Township
North Olmsted
Bridgetown
Mason
The metro area also represented nine out of the Top 10 most competitive markets in Kentucky:
Worthington Hills
Bromley
Florence
Ludlow
Wilder
Independence
Southgate
Taylor Mill
Fort Thomas
Lakeside Park
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Sharonville among hottest housing markets in Ohio
