New for-sale homes under construction in Weinland Park — Photo by Walker Evans.

According to a new report from Columbus Realtors, the regional for-sale housing market has grown even hotter during the month of May.

The total number of homes and condos sold last month was up 2.4 percent over May 2015, and up 7.4 percent year-to-date. Additionally, the average sales price in May climbed to $211,974, which represents a six percent increase over the past year.

The average time a home spent on the market dropped to 44 days in May, down over 18 percent from last year’s rate of 54 days on the market.

The housing market inventory is very low currently, with only 5,588 homes for sale in Central Ohio, which represents only a 2.1 month inventory supply. With a rapidly growing regional population, which recently surpassed the two million mark, living costs can be expected to continue to rise unless new housing inventory can be quickly added to the market.

“Our challenge continues to be the lack of homes for sale,” said 2016 Columbus Realtors President John Royer. “Inventory today is less than 40 percent of our average over the last decade.”

Most of the residential sales growth in May can be attributed to single family homes, while condo sales remained flat. That number may change drastically by this time next year as new condo projects have been proposed or are under construction in Grandview Heights, the Short North, Italian Village, Upper Arlington, the Arena District and beyond.

For more information, visit www.columbusrealtors.com.