The real estate market in Boone County has fluctuated dating to the start of the COVID pandemic in March 2020. During 2023, home sales struggled from inflation worries and volatile mortgage rates. The days of receiving multiple offers within the first twenty-four hours of listing the right house aren’t quite over, but it’s not nearly as prevalent as last year.

Single-family home sales in Boone County finished 2023 down 13 percent on top of a decline of 16 percent in 2022. Although sales have declined, the numbers are within range of a typical year before the pandemic from a boost in new construction sales last year. Existing homes saw the largest decline, down 16 percent, while new construction homes posted a sales increase of 14 percent. Home sales would’ve declined more, but the fourth quarter posted a surprise sales gain of 3 percent over the same period last year. The city of Columbia posted a sales decline of 18 percent, while sales in Ashland increased by 18 percent and Centralia was up 7 percent.

Home prices seemed to be an anomaly for the second year in a row. The average priced single-family home in Boone County increased 5 percent to $343,436, and the median price was also up 5 percent to $302,990. Although home price appreciation seems to be at a more reasonable level than 2020 through 2022, it’s unusual to see price appreciation while experiencing a double-digit sales decline; even more so two years in a row. Another interesting price fact for Boone County is the number of sales with a price over $1 million. Before 2020, our market would have six or fewer sales at or above $1 million. Since 2020, that number has averaged more than fourteen sales.    

One factor that has pulled sales down and pushed prices up is the number of months of home inventory on the market during the year. Available inventory for sale in Boone County, especially the city of Columbia, has been a problem since before the pandemic. Since coming out of the Great Recession, home inventory on the market has steadily declined, reducing the number of options for homebuyers. The average amount of inventory for sale did increase during 2023 to a monthly average of 2.2 months, but it’s still far below the previous average for the last ten years of 3.52 months of inventory.  

The number of days a home is on the market jumped 58 percent to 30 days from when a home hits the market and then goes under contract. This seems like a huge increase, but in 2012, the average days on the market (DOM) were seventy-nine days. Days on the market have been following the same trends as the amount of market inventory, where DOM has steadily declined year over year.

For 2024, many housing economists are predicting an increase in home sales, which will also lead to continued price increases. Inventory will continue to remain low, while mortgage rates are expected to decline throughout the year from the 2023 high of over 8 percent for a thirty-year fixed-rate mortgage. Homes priced above $500,000 will probably underperform sales below $500,000 as borrowing costs will remain higher than a few years ago.

Brian Toohey is the chief executive officer for the Columbia Board of REALTORS.