Oxford Condo Costs and Sales Are Up

With a surge in new students at the university and the recent success of Ole Miss sports teams, demand for housing may have never been higher, according to Oxford realtor Lee Pittman. To find space to build, Pittman says developers are generally moving further away from campus and the Square.

“The growth has to go north, east, west, south, in order to keep [growing] inventory, if you will, and the demand of condos and something new and exciting does excite the next wave of buyers,” Pittman said.

He said in an email that the university’s largest-ever student population has really affected the condo market, in particular. New housing developments such as Stillwater off of South Lamar are focused on building more condo capacity in the area. But condominiums in Oxford do not come cheap.

According to the Cannon, Cleary, McGraw website, 57 condos sold around town in August with an average list sales price of $408,784. Only one condo sold for less than $200,000.

Dr. Charles Hilterbrand is a professor of finance and real estate at the University of Mississippi. He says the high costs may be good for sellers, but not for everyone.

“We’re also running into a situation where affordability is becoming an issue for the people who aren’t at the university, or people who are at the university who are working at the staff-level positions, where the incomes and the real estate [costs] are not working out well for the affordability,” Hilterbrand said.

However, he says recent drops in the interest rate for mortgages are having an impact.

“Now you’re starting to see houses sitting on the market for a little longer, despite our low inventory. It’s a significant departure from the last two years when houses would sell within 24 to 72 hours,” Hilterbrand said.

According to Cannon, Cleary, McGraw, the average number of days on the market for a condo in Oxford during August was 117. And just in case you were wondering, the most expensive condo to sell in August fetched a cool $1,073,000.