Low inventory, rising prices: Developers stress need for more housing

COLUMBUS, Ohio (COLUMBUS BUSINESS FIRST) — As median home prices continue to rise in Central Ohio and the inventory of available homes drops, local residential developers say the need for more housing is critical.

According to a report from the Franklin County Auditor’s office, the median sale price of a home in the county from 2019 to 2021 increased 32% to $242,000.

In that same time span, the number of available homes decreased by more than 45%, from 3,886 at the end of 2019 to 2,121 at the end of 2021, according to Columbus Realtors’ year-end report for 2021.

This poses problems for Central Ohio, which is expected to add thousands of jobs with the incoming Intel semiconductor plant, Columbus Realtors CEO Brent Swander said. If building permits do not increase, the prices of homes will continue to rise.

The Intel project is expected to create 3,000 direct jobs at the facilities, 7,000 construction jobs and “tens of thousands of additional indirect and support jobs including contracted positions, electricians, engineers, and jobs in restaurants, healthcare, housing, entertainment and more,” according to Intel.

“It’s truly economics 101, it’s supply and demand,” Swander said. “We have to get ahead of the supply issue. We have to build responsibly.”

For the Columbus region as a whole – Delaware, Fayette, Franklin, Licking, Madison, Morrow, Pickaway and Union Counties, as well as parts of Athens, Champaign, Clark, Clinton, Fairfield, Hocking, Knox, Logan, Marion, Muskingum, Perry and Ross Counties – Columbus Realtors found the median home sale price was $260,000 for 2021. This was a 12.1% increase from 2020.

Jonathon Wilcox, a partner at Worthington-based developer Wilcox Communities, said the area needs to increase supply, which begins with land-use decisions made at the local government level.

“Local governments need to work with developers and builders to plan for more housing at the end of the day to be able to meet that need,” Wilcox said.

The surging demand could dovetail with existing residents’ resistance to denser development, something Jon Melchi, executive director of the Building Industry Association of Central Ohio, said local governments will need to be ready for.

“I would urge those local governments, with the same intensity and vigor that they used to help bring (Intel) to the region, to put those same resources into making sure we have housing … for those employees,” Melchi said.

Swander agrees.

“Density is a conversation that has to happen, especially with Intel,” Swander said. “We are going to continue to grow and we have to rethink our housing supply and our housing stock.”

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