Columbus, Ohio housing market faces low inventory shortage

The Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area is experiencing a significant housing supply shortage. Despite having a population of 2.23 million, there are currently only 6,098 active home listings, which is well below the historical norm of 10,000 to 15,000 listings.

Real estate expert Barbara Gale of the Gale Group notes that while the intense bidding wars seen during the pandemic era have cooled due to higher mortgage rates, the expected increase in inventory has not materialized. This structural tightness is largely attributed to homeowners who secured historically low interest rates in 2020 and 2021 and are now unwilling to sell and trade those rates for current higher financing costs.