Exisiting home sales rose in November on the national and state levels, but declined on the local level.
Figures released Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors show sales rose by 1.9 percent from October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.32 million.
But higher mortgage rates have caused sales over the past 12 months to decline at the steepest pace since May 2011.
The declining stock market has created an additional drag for would-be buyers seeking to purchase expensive homes, as sales of properties worth more than 1 million dollars declined from a year ago.
The Ohio Association of Realtors says sales rose 6.5 percent from October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of more than 157 thousand.
The Columbus Realtors trade association says 2,392 existing homes were sold in its multi-county region, down from 2,742 in October.
The median price of an existing U.S. home in November was nearly 258 thousand dollars, up from 255 thousand in October.
The average price of an Ohio home in November was nearly 179 thousand, up 2.5 percent from the previous month.
Columbus Realtors says the average sale price for November was 219,986 dollars, up from 225,519 in October.
Editor's Note: This story was edited December 22 to add information from Columbus Realtors that the organization did not include in it's press release.
