COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Columbus was named among the top 20 housing markets in the United States as central Ohio home prices increased for the second month, a new report shows.

Columbus Realtors’ Central Ohio Housing Report for March found the average sales price for a home was $328,769, marking a nearly $13,000 increase from $315,808 in February. The number of home sales also increased at 33% from 1,728 closings in February to 2,304 closing last month.

“Home prices continue to tick up each month around Columbus,” said Patti Brown-Wright, president of Columbus Realtors. “That can pose some challenges to potential buyers, but it’s also important to remember that Columbus remains one of the most affordable metros in the U.S.”

As prices ticked up, the Columbus area was named the 12th emerging housing market by the Wall Street Journal’s and Realtor.com’s spring 2023 index, and the only city in the top 20 with a population greater than 1 million.

Indiana metros took the top three sports, with Lafayette ranked first, Bloomington second and Elkhart-Goshen third. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, was ranked fourth and Fort Wayne, Indiana, fifth. In addition, Springfield, Ohio, was fifteenth.

Home sales in central Ohio are rising while the days on the market are dropping as 72.6% of properties sold in 30 days or less in March. Columbus Realtors found 82 homes closed sales in Westerville City School District last month that were on the market an average of 16 days. Dublin saw 33 closings, and homes were sold in 10 days.

“The competition is still fierce out there,” said Brown-Wright. “With mortgage rates still hovering around 7%, there are not as many new listings coming onto the market as there were at this time last year. Buyers need to act fast.”

There were 2,630 new listings in March, a 20% drop from 2022 when rates were around 3% lower. The decreasing number of new listings has the total inventory at 2,322 homes in central Ohio.

The report also noted South-Western Consolidated School District in Grove City had 151 closed sales at an average sales price of $310,138, up 13.4 percent year over year. Olentangy Local School District in Delaware County has kept up its pace with 111 closings with an average sale price of $584,123, a 10.1 percent increase over March in 2022.

View Columbus Realtors housing report for March here.