Is the spring housing market starting to thaw in Oklahoma City? Realtors' stats show signs

Richard Mize, The Oklahoman
This three-bedroom, two-bath home, with 2,941 square feet of space, on 34 acres at 5809 W Waterloo Road, Edmond, is listed for $1.65 million with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Paramount.
This three-bedroom, two-bath home, with 2,941 square feet of space, on 34 acres at 5809 W Waterloo Road, Edmond, is listed for $1.65 million with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Paramount.

The spring housing market sprang in OKC before spring itself — at 11:06 p.m. Tuesday — and would-be home sellers are the ones who got it started, Realtors' statistics show.

“The weather is starting to heat up, and so is the housing market,” said Angelena Harris, co-founder and managing broker of Spearhead Realty Group in northwest OKC and president of the board of MLSOK Inc., the multiple listing service of the Oklahoma City Metro Association of Realtors.

Sellers are starting to get off the fence. The number of homes listed for sale last month jumped up 30.5%, to 1,782, compared with February 2023. The Realtors' numbers don't include for-sale-by-owner transactions or new homes sold directly by builders.

Signs of spring in OKC: The housing market is starting to thaw

This 2,441-square-foot home with four bedrooms, two baths, and one half-bath, at 25 Easy St. in Edmond, is listed for $343,500 with Huffman & Co. Realty Group.
This 2,441-square-foot home with four bedrooms, two baths, and one half-bath, at 25 Easy St. in Edmond, is listed for $343,500 with Huffman & Co. Realty Group.

The increase in new listings wasn't the only sign of thawing in the market compared to a year ago.

  • Pending sales, those under contract but not yet closed, ended February at 1,482, up 15.8% year over year in the OKC area, the Realtors reported.

  • In all, 1,080 homes sold last month, up 24.4% from dead-of-winter January, no surprise, but up just 2.5% from February 2023, which suggests that buyers aren't quite as ready to come to market as sellers.

  • In any case, home shoppers do have considerably more houses to choose from. February ended with 2,991 homes for sale, just 37 more than in January, but 696 more than in January 2023, an increase of 30.3%.

"This level of activity in the market is good for both buyers and sellers,” Harris said.

LAST MONTH: Will there actually be a 'spring housing market' this year? Realtors weigh in

OKC-area home prices strong, inventory unchanged in February

This 1,894-square-foot home with three bedrooms and two baths, at 1717 Dena Lane in Edmond, is listed for $315,000 with Collection 7 Realty.
This 1,894-square-foot home with three bedrooms and two baths, at 1717 Dena Lane in Edmond, is listed for $315,000 with Collection 7 Realty.

Home prices remained generally strong heading into spring.

  • The average sale price in February, $304,781, was up 2.7% from a year ago, but down 1.2% over January, the Realtors reported.

  • The median price, considered a better gauge because it ignores extremes, was $271,175, up 8.5% from a year ago, and basically flat, up 0.5% from January, according to the Realtors.

  • The supply of homes for sale was unchanged at 2.2 months, or 67 days, still a seller's market. A six-month supply is seen as balanced, with neither buyers nor sellers having any particular advantage in price negotiations.

What happened with home prices in February in central and western Oklahoma

This three-bedroom, two-bath home, with 1,689 square feet of space, at 913 Blue Ridge Drive in Edmond, is listed for $249,990 with RE/Max at Home.
This three-bedroom, two-bath home, with 1,689 square feet of space, at 913 Blue Ridge Drive in Edmond, is listed for $249,990 with RE/Max at Home.

The OKC-area numbers prepared for The Oklahoman reflect sales in Arcadia, Bethany, Blanchard, Choctaw, Deer Creek, Edmond, Harrah, Luther, Midwest City, Moore, Mustang, Newcastle, Nicoma Park, Norman, Oklahoma City, Piedmont, Tuttle, Warr Acres and Yukon.

MLSOK covers a wide swath of central Oklahoma — from OKC west 60 miles to Hydro, east 70 miles to Okemah, north 60 miles to Orlando, and south 60 miles to Rush Springs, plus the Altus area, 140 miles to the southwest.

  • In that combined area,the average price in February eked out a tiny gain of 0.05% from January, to $282,780, which was up 1% compared with Februarty 2023.

  • The median price in February in the wider area was $250,000, up 4.2% month to month and up 7.8% year over year.

  • February ended with 5,537 homes for sale in the wider area, up 0.9% month to month and up 26% compared with February 2023.

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2024 MLSOK Inc. President Angelena Harris.
2024 MLSOK Inc. President Angelena Harris.

Senior Business Writer Richard Mize has covered housing, construction, commercial real estate and related topics for the newspaper and Oklahoman.com since 1999. Contact him at rmize@oklahoman.com. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Real Estate with Richard Mize. You can support Richard's work, and that of his colleagues, by purchasing a digital subscription to The Oklahoman. Right now, you can get 6 months of subscriber-only access for $1.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Realtors: Home sales in OKC pick up in February with spring market

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