Real Estate

Picture a fully furnished Columbus apartment for $1,295 per month — with no lease, no security deposit and all utilities included. Sound too good to be true?

• It is, because there's one catch: You might have to move with just three days' notice.

Hoping to buy a home in 2023? This might be the time to jump into the fray.

What's happening: The Columbus region's housing market has moderated a little bit from the craziness of the past two years, though it's still nowhere near a return to pre-pandemic levels.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, the average asking rent in the Columbus metro area was $1,135 — up 9.1% from a year earlier.

Why it matters: Affordability concerns are starting to weigh down the booming rental market.

The Columbus housing market shows no sign of a crash in 2023.

• Here's what experts say to expect instead:

Columbus renters earned 80% of the income they would need to afford a starter home in October 2022.

• An analysis by real estate website Point2Homes considered "starter homes" properties valued in the lower one-third of all available homes for sale.

Home prices across the central Ohio region rose between July and October, per an Axios analysis of Zillow data.

Why it matters: As if you needed another reminder, the interactive map shows it is increasingly expensive to be a homebuyer in the Columbus metro area.

Now here's a home that will make you wish you'd chosen better Powerball numbers.

Up for sale: A 12,861-square-foot historic mansion on Parkview Avenue in Bexley.

The Columbus metro area's real estate market is starting to level off.

Why it matters: After two-plus years of plummeting inventory and sky-high home prices, local buyers have waited a long time for a little relief.