With a 4% bump in sales and a 6% hike in prices, the Columbus-area housing market in 2024 looked as though it was "returning ...

This wealth is nothing new — according to central Ohio historians Esther Marsh and Pat Garbrandt, the area was originally home to wealthy Columbus families seeking to escape downtown.

Columbus is a city known for its unique architecture ... to qualify for a typical mortgage on a median-priced single-family home. An index above 100 signifies that the family has surplus income.

They paid for the privilege. The median price of a Columbus-area home last year was a record $319,900, up 6% from the previous year and $110,000 more than five years earlier, according to year-end ...