Fall Market Check-In: How Columbus's Numbers Have Shifted Since Summer

Every few months I like to pull back and check whether the story we've been telling about this market still holds up. Here's the latest, using the most recent numbers available for the Columbus market.

The Headline Numbers

As of the most recent data, Columbus had roughly 1,551 homes for sale — up 3.6% from the month before and a substantial 21.1% higher than the same time last year. New listings, on the other hand, came in a bit lower than the previous month, suggesting sellers are being somewhat more selective about when they list, even as overall inventory continues to build from homes already on the market.

The median listing price came in at $282,450, edging up slightly from the month before. On a price-per-square-foot basis, Columbus actually outpaced the national market — local prices per square foot rose slightly even as the national figure declined, a sign that local demand is holding up better than the broader housing market.

Homes are taking a bit longer to find a buyer: the current average is 45 days on market, one day more than the previous month and nine days more than this time last year.

What's Actually Changed Since Our Last Check-In

Compared to where things stood over the summer, the throughline is consistent: inventory keeps growing, homes are taking modestly longer to sell, and prices are still edging upward rather than falling. None of that has flipped into a genuine buyer's market — it's a continuation of the same gradual normalization we've been tracking since spring, just with a few more data points confirming the trend.

The bigger recent wildcard is mortgage rates, which climbed to a one-year high near 7% in mid-September. That's arguably a bigger near-term factor in buyer behavior right now than the inventory or pricing numbers themselves — higher rates tend to cool buyer urgency even when the underlying market fundamentals haven't changed much.

What This Means If You're Buying This Fall

More inventory and slightly longer days-on-market mean less pressure to make a rushed decision. Fall buyers historically also face less competition than spring buyers, even in a normal year — combine that with today's elevated (but not record-breaking) inventory, and it's a genuinely reasonable window to shop with some negotiating room, provided you've accounted for where rates currently sit.

What This Means If You're Selling This Fall

Don't assume the slower late-fall calendar means weak buyer interest — fall buyers tend to be serious, often working against a personal deadline. But with inventory up over 20% year-over-year, differentiation matters: strong photos, accurate pricing, and addressing any obvious repair issues before listing all carry more weight in a market with more choices for buyers than it had a year ago.

The Bottom Line

Columbus's fall market looks a lot like its summer market, just with the volume turned up slightly — a bit more inventory, a bit more time on market, prices still inching upward. The real story to watch this fall isn't inventory, it's where mortgage rates settle over the next month or two.

Get a current market snapshot for your specific neighborhood → [CMA request]