Local housing and economic charts
Every Columbus Pulse chart, grouped by what it measures. Local series come from the Central Ohio MLS and update on ; macro series come from national sources and update as each one publishes.
Data through August 30, 2026
Macro series update through the latest source release.
Central Ohio housing charts
Every weekly Central Ohio housing series — supply, demand, price, and leverage — read on only.
Data through August 30, 2026
This week’s featured charts
Central Ohio supply, demand, price, and leverage — each on complete weeks only.
- vs last week+0.1%
- vs last month+1.4%
- vs last year+10.3%
Fewer homes for sale keeps well-priced listings moving fast; a build-up hands buyers room.
Active inventory
Homes for sale each week, this year against last
Central Ohio MLS. Complete weeks only.
- Last 4 weeks 2,795, trending above the YTD line
Contracts signed now become the closings that set comps a month or so from today.
New pending sales
Homes going under contract each week
Central Ohio MLS. Complete weeks only.
- year over year−0.7% vs the same week in 2025
The middle sale price is the cleanest read on what Central Ohio homes actually fetch.
Median sale price
Middle closed-sale price each week
Central Ohio MLS. Complete weeks only.
The average sale price of $393,556 sits $40,556 above the median of $353,000 — a narrower spread than its 12-month average of $50,808, the pattern seen when entry- and mid-priced sales make up more of the week's closings.
Price gap: average vs median sold price
Weekly average and median closed-sale price, with the spread between them shaded
Central Ohio MLS. Complete weeks only. Gap read against its trailing 12-month average.
More tours chasing each listing is the earliest sign buyer competition is heating up.
Showings per active listing
Weekly ShowingTime showings divided by that week’s active inventory
ShowingTime and Central Ohio MLS. Complete weeks only.
Showings per active listing = weekly ShowingTime showings ÷ that week's active inventory.
Leverage tracks who sets the terms: a B code means buyers, an S code means sellers.
Market leverage history
Buyers-versus-sellers leverage, smoothed to the last 4 weeks, full history
Central Ohio MLS. Complete weeks only. Line is a trailing 4-week average.
Contracts today are closings in about 4 weeks. The pending line is shifted forward by that measured lag so it lines up with the closings it becomes.
Pending sales lead closings
Weekly closings against pending sales shifted forward 4 weeks
Central Ohio MLS. Complete weeks only. Lag measured by cross-correlation over full history.
The full directory.
Every weekly Central Ohio series we publish, grouped by what it measures.
Rates and economic indicators
Cost of borrowing
What it costs to borrow today, and the forces pulling rates up or down.
Where borrowing costs stand.
The average — the single number that sets what a Columbus monthly payment buys, from Freddie Mac’s weekly PMMS survey. The chart lines up this year against last, week by week. The 30-year fixed is running about 13 basis points higher than 3 months ago, at 6.66%.
30-year mortgage rate: this year vs last
Average 30-year fixed rate, by week of year
Source: Freddie Mac (MORTGAGE30US, weekly since 2013). MND 30-yr daily appears only as the secondary line on the mortgage-spread chart below.
Every quarter-point move changes the monthly payment on a typical Columbus home — when rates ease, local buyers can stretch further; when they climb, competition here cools.
Mortgage spread over the 10-year Treasury
track the , but lenders add a on top for risk and profit. This chart isolates that spread — the 30-year rate minus the 10-year yield.
The spread is in its typical range — mortgage rates are tracking the 10-year Treasury about as closely as they usually do.
Mortgage spread over the 10-year Treasury
30-year fixed rate minus the 10-year Treasury yield, daily
Source: Mortgage News Daily (30-yr fixed) and FRED (10-yr Treasury, DGS10).
The spread is the slice of a Columbus rate that isn't the Treasury. When it's wide, local borrowers pay extra even if the 10-year holds; when it narrows, rates here can fall without the Fed moving.
Odds of a Fed rate change
Two forecast methodologies, priced live.
The 10-year Treasury
10-year Treasury yield, daily
Source: FRED (10-year Treasury constant maturity, DGS10).
Columbus mortgage rates track the 10-year Treasury far more closely than the Fed's own rate. When the market grows confident the Fed will cut, the 10-year usually eases first, and local mortgage rates follow it down before the meeting arrives.
What else the prediction markets are pricing.
Consumer inflation
is the change in the Consumer Price Index — the rate the Fed and the bond market react to. The lighter line is producer prices (PPI), which tend to lead it.
Consumer inflation
CPI and PPI, year-over-year change
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics via FRED (CPI, PPI).
Cooling inflation gives the Fed room to lower rates; sticky inflation keeps them high — an early tell on where next year's Columbus mortgage rates settle.
Housing supply and demand
Why so few homes reach the market, and how many buyers are shopping right now.
The mortgage rate-lock effect
Most homeowners financed or refinanced when rates were far lower than today. Selling means giving up that cheap loan and buying the next home at today’s rate.
Homeowners with mortgage rates below today’s rate
share by mortgage rateUpdated quarterly · as of March 31, 2026 · FHFA National Mortgage Database.
Why it matters locally: this is the single biggest reason Central Ohio has so few homes for sale — until rates fall enough to loosen these locks, local inventory stays tight and well-priced homes keep moving fast.
How many people are shopping for a loan.
How many people are applying for a mortgage to buy a home, measured weekly by the Mortgage Bankers Association — one of the earliest reads on buyer demand. Applications are running about 3.2% higher than a year ago.
Mortgage purchase applications
Weekly purchase-application index, this year vs last
Source: Mortgage Bankers Association weekly purchase-application index.
Applications are an early national read on demand that Columbus sellers tend to feel a few weeks later.
Household finances
The income, affordability, and mood that decide what buyers can actually carry.
What a typical payment costs a typical household.
This is what the payment on a typical Central Ohio home costs a typical local household, each month, as a share of income. The dashed line marks the . Our line counts principal and interest only, so a household’s true burden — with taxes and insurance added — runs higher than what is shown.
Payment burden on the median Central Ohio home
Monthly principal and interest as a share of median household income, weekly
Median sold price: the Columbus REALTORS MLS. Rate: Freddie Mac 30-year fixed via FRED. Income: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS, Franklin County median household income).
The series runs about as far back as the daily 30-year rate history allows. Income is held at its latest annual value, so week-to-week movement in the line reflects price and rate, not income.
When this share climbs, each new Columbus buyer stretches further for the same home, and demand cools; when it eases, buying power returns even if prices hold. It is the most direct read on what a local paycheck can carry.
Yes — take-home pay is up 0.5% from a year ago, after inflation.
Yes — card balances are up 3.8% from a year ago.
Can a typical household afford a typical home?
An measures whether a typical household earns enough to buy a typical home. 100 means the median household exactly affords the median home; above 100 is easier, below 100 is a stretch.
Affordability, national vs Franklin County
Affordability index, 100 = exactly affordable
Franklin County affordability is derived in part from Columbus REALTORS MLS closed-sale medians. Based on information from the Columbus Association of REALTORS. National line: FHFA.
This view is clipped to the window the two series share: the national FHFA line begins only in mid-2025 under its data license, while the Franklin County series runs back to 2019 and will pair in full once the national line backfills.
The Franklin County line shows whether a typical Central Ohio household can actually afford a typical local home — the clearest read on local buying power.
A quick read on sentiment.
Fear & Greed runs from 0 (fear) to 100 (greed). The homebuilder funds — XHB and ITB — show how investors price the housing sector day to day. When confidence sours, that caution reaches Columbus offers and listings weeks later. These are sentiment reads, not forecasts.
Fuel and energy prices.
The most visible weekly cost for households; teal means it fell, red means it rose.
Leading, coincident, and lagging.
The whole dashboard on one page, sorted by timing: the indicators that move before Central Ohio closings, the ones that move with the market, and the ones that only confirm a shift after it has happened. Pendings are the flagship of that idea: contracts signed today are the closings that record in about 4 weeks, a lag we measure by cross-correlating weekly pending sales against weekly closings over the full history.
The local market
Supply, demand, and straight from the Central Ohio MLS.
Full market-health report →| Indicator | Class | Cadence | Current | Trend | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New pendingsas of Aug 30, 2026 | Leading | Weekly | 676 | Falling over the last 12 weeks. — demand-side pressure easing. | |
| New listingsas of Aug 30, 2026 | Leading | Weekly | 775 | Falling over the last 12 weeks. — conditions tightening. | |
| Fall-through rateas of Aug 30, 2026 | Leading | Weekly | 12.3% | Falling over the last 12 weeks. — conditions tightening. | |
| Price-cut shareas of Aug 30, 2026 | Leading | Weekly | 56.8% | Falling over the last 12 weeks. — conditions tightening. | |
| Buyer Pressure Indexas of Aug 30, 2026 | Leading | Weekly | 32 | Rising over the last 12 weeks. — demand-side pressure building. | |
| Active inventoryas of Aug 30, 2026 | Coincident | Weekly | 5,486 | Rising over the last 12 weeks. — conditions loosening for buyers. | |
| Leverage Indexas of Aug 30, 2026 | Coincident | Weekly | +16 | Rising over the last 12 weeks. — demand-side pressure building. | |
| Heat Scoreas of Aug 30, 2026 | Coincident | Weekly | 29 | Rising over the last 12 weeks. — demand-side pressure building. | |
| Months of supplyas of Aug 30, 2026 | Coincident | Weekly | 2.5 | Rising over the last 12 weeks. — conditions loosening for buyers. | |
| Relist shareas of Aug 30, 2026 | Coincident | Weekly | 6.6% | Falling over the last 12 weeks. — conditions tightening. | |
| Days on market (closed)as of Aug 30, 2026 | Lagging | Weekly | 29 | Rising over the last 12 weeks. — conditions loosening for buyers. | |
| Median sold priceas of Aug 30, 2026 | Lagging | Weekly | $353,000 | Rising over the last 12 weeks. — demand-side pressure building. | |
| Closed salesas of Aug 30, 2026 | Lagging | Weekly | 559 | Falling over the last 12 weeks. — demand-side pressure easing. |
Local-market indicators are built from the Columbus REALTORS MLS. Based on information from the Columbus Association of REALTORS, which is not responsible for its accuracy. Complete weeks only; the in-progress week is excluded.
Money & rates
The borrowing cost that sets what a monthly payment buys.
Rates & the economy →| Indicator | Class | Cadence | Current | Trend | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10-yr Treasuryas of Sep 2, 2026 | Leading | Daily | 4.79% | Rising over the last 90 days. | |
| 30-yr mortgage rateas of Sep 3, 2026 | Leading | Daily | 6.91% | Rising over the last 90 days. | |
| Fed rate odds (top outcome)as of Sep 3, 2026 | Leading | Daily | 52.0% | Falling over the last 90 days. | |
| MBA purchase appsas of Jun 29, 2026 | Leading | Weekly | 171 | Rising over the last 12 weeks. — demand-side pressure building. | |
| Rate lock-in (under 6%)as of Mar 31, 2026 | Structural | Quarterly | 77.9% | Holding steady over the last two quarters. | |
| Affordability index (Franklin)as of Sep 3, 2026 | Coincident | Weekly | 88.3 | Rising over the last 12 weeks. — conditions loosening for buyers. |
Household finances
The slower-moving economy and market mood behind local demand.
Affordability report →| Indicator | Class | Cadence | Current | Trend | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PPI (year over year)as of Jul 1, 2026 | Leading | Monthly | +8.3% | Rising over the last 6 months. | |
| M2 money supply (YoY)as of Jun 1, 2026 | Leading | Monthly | +5.5% | Rising over the last 6 months. | |
| Real disposable income (YoY)as of Jun 1, 2026 | Coincident | Monthly | +0.5% | Falling over the last 6 months. | |
| Revolving credit (YoY)as of Jun 1, 2026 | Coincident | Monthly | +3.8% | Rising over the last 6 months. | |
| Gas priceas of Aug 31, 2026 | Coincident | Weekly | $4.07 | Rising over the last 12 weeks. | |
| CPI (year over year)as of Jul 1, 2026 | Lagging | Monthly | +3.3% | Rising over the last 6 months. | |
| Unemploymentas of Jul 1, 2026 | Lagging | Monthly | 4.1% | Falling over the last 6 months. | |
| Case-Shiller national (YoY)as of May 1, 2026 | Lagging | Monthly | +1.1% | Holding steady over the last 6 months. |
| Indicator | Class | Cadence | Current | Trend | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homebuilder ETF (XHB)as of Jul 10, 2026 | Leading | Daily | 109 | Falling over the last 90 days. | |
| S&P 500as of Sep 2, 2026 | Leading | Daily | 7667 | Rising over the last 90 days. | |
| Fear & Greedas of Sep 3, 2026 | Coincident | Daily | 33 | Rising over the last 90 days. |
The numbers that changed, who gained leverage, and the strongest submarkets across Central Ohio. One email each Monday.
One email each Monday. Unsubscribe anytime.