The newest Columbus REALTORS report, covering September 2026, shows a 22.3% year-over-year jump in the City of Hilliard's median sale price, from $421,061 to $515,000. The same report shows Hilliard's year-to-date median down 5.9%, from $459,450 through September 2025 to $432,500 through September 2026. The Hilliard City School District area is a separate reporting area that also carries the Hilliard name. Its September median rose 0.3% to $400,000, and its year-to-date median fell 1.3%.
So one suburb name in one monthly report produces three different stories. If you're comparing Franklin County suburbs, that matters. In Franklin County, a monthly change for one suburb usually says more about which few homes happened to close, and which map line the report used, than about where prices are heading. Before you set an offer, two other figures deserve more attention: the year-to-date trend and the gap between a home's original asking price and its sale price.
| Hilliard, as reported for September 2026 | Closed sales | Median price change | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hilliard (Corp.), September only | 40 | +22.3% | One month, city area |
| Hilliard (Corp.), year to date | 357 | -5.9% | Nine months, city area |
| Hilliard City School District, September only | 117 | +0.3% | One month, district area |
| Hilliard City School District, year to date | 1,043 | -1.3% | Nine months, district area |
Forty Sales Can't Carry a Percentage
A median is the middle sale. With 40 closings, the middle sits between the 20th and 21st homes, so a handful of larger houses closing in the same month can move it a long way. The Columbus REALTORS area reports say so themselves. A note at the bottom of each one warns that "percent changes are calculated using rounded figures and can sometimes look extreme due to small sample size."
Hilliard isn't the only example in Franklin County this fall.
- Gahanna (Corp.) had 26 closings in September 2026, down 31.6% from a year earlier, and its median rose 18.3% to $400,000. Its year-to-date median rose 4.7%, to $403,000.
- New Albany (Corp.) had 13 closings in September 2026, and its average sale price rose 53.5% to $1,103,929. Its year-to-date average rose 6.7%.
- Franklin County as a whole had 1,236 closings in September 2026, and its median rose 2.4% to $320,000.
The bigger the sample, the smaller the swing. At the county level, with more than a thousand sales in one month, the median changed by low single digits. A single city's monthly figure, built from a few dozen closings, can rise or fall by double digits with no change in what comparable homes are worth.
The direction of Hilliard's September swing came from which homes were for sale that month.
The Homes That Listed Shape the Median
In September 2026, the median list price of new listings in the City of Hilliard rose 30.5% from a year earlier, from $399,900 to $521,937. For the year to date, the same measure fell 1.6%. So the September jump in sale prices followed a September jump in what went up for sale. A month with more large or newer homes on the market produces a higher median even if no individual house gained value.
Price per square foot adjusts for some of that, and it tells a calmer story. Hilliard's average price per square foot rose 8.1% in September 2026, from $220.36 to $238.19, and 2.3% for the year to date, from $228.70 to $233.95. Both figures are well short of the 22.3% headline.
Dublin shows the same effect through a different pair of numbers. Through September 2026, the City of Dublin's median sale price rose 2.3% to $649,900, while its average sale price fell 3.2% to $658,526, across 514 closings. When the median rises and the average falls, the homes in the middle of the market got a little more expensive while fewer very high-priced homes closed at the top. Neither number alone tells you whether a typical Dublin home is worth more this year.
If you're shopping a specific size and style of home, ask how that slice moved over several months, and set the citywide headline aside. The first step is knowing which slice of the map the headline covered.
Same Name, Different Map
Columbus REALTORS lists some areas under a city name with a "Corp." label, such as Hilliard (Corp.) and Columbus (Corp.), and lists school districts as separate reporting areas, even when they share a name. A city and a school district with the same name don't cover the same homes.
Dublin City Schools explains the difference plainly on its maps and boundaries page. The district covers parts of Franklin, Delaware and Union counties and serves homes with Dublin, Columbus, Plain City, Powell, Shawnee Hills, Upper Arlington and Hilliard mailing addresses. According to the district, 46.2% of its students live in the City of Dublin and 33.3% live in the City of Columbus. That means a "Dublin" figure built on the district boundary includes a large share of homes outside Dublin city limits, and some outside Franklin County. The district also notes that a home's city, mailing address or ZIP code doesn't determine its school district. Its official locator tools are the way to check a specific address.
The two kinds of boundary can point opposite ways in the same month. In September 2026, the City of Columbus median rose 2.7% to $287,553, while the Columbus City School District area median fell 3.3% to $251,450. Year to date, both moved up together: 3.9% for the city and 3.5% for the district area. The one-month split goes away once you look at nine months of sales.
So when someone quotes a suburb's price change, ask which map it uses and how many months it covers. Then look at the figure that affects your offer more directly.
The Number That Shows Up in Your Offer
Franklin County's September 2026 numbers show a market with more choice than a year ago. Inventory rose 9.0% to 2,870 homes, months' supply rose to 2.3 from 2.2, and days on market rose to 30 from 28.
The more useful figure is the pair of list-price ratios. In September 2026, Franklin County sellers received 99.2% of their final list price but 96.9% of their original list price. Columbus REALTORS reads the same pattern at the regional level, where the figures were 98.8% and 96.3%, as evidence that "more sellers are adjusting prices to meet the market." In other words, homes that start too high get reduced, and then sell close to the reduced price.
At the suburb level, the gap can be much wider than the county average. New Albany sellers received 91.4% of original list price in September 2026, down from 94.4% a year earlier. Gahanna sellers received 96.9% of original list price in September 2026, down from 98.9%. Over the same period, Gahanna's days on market doubled from 13 to 26 and its months' supply rose from 0.8 to 1.6. So in the same report where Gahanna's median rose 18.3%, homes there took longer to sell and sold further below their opening price.
In the Columbus REALTORS September 2026 release, 2026 Columbus REALTORS President Gloria Alonso Cannon put it this way: "With more competition on the market, the starting price matters more than ever." The same release puts this in context. Regional months' supply of 2.6 is still below the roughly 5 to 6 months typically considered balanced, so central Ohio remains seller-leaning overall.
The reported prices also leave something out. Each area report notes that its sale prices don't account for sale concessions or down payment assistance. A home that closed at full price with a seller credit counts as a full-price sale in the data, even though the seller netted less.
Reading a Suburb Report Before You Write an Offer
These steps follow from everything above, roughly in the order a buyer runs into them.
- Start with year to date. Nine months of closings in a city like Hilliard, 357 sales, is a far steadier base than one month's 40.
- Check the sample size next to the percentage. If a figure rests on a few dozen closings or fewer, read a double-digit change as a description of those homes, not as a trend.
- Confirm the boundary. A "Corp." figure and a school district figure with the same name are separate reporting areas, and a school district can extend into neighboring cities and counties.
- Compare price per square foot with the median. When the median moves much more than price per square foot, the mix of homes that sold probably changed.
- Look at original list price received. This tells you how often sellers in that area are cutting prices, which bears more directly on your opening offer than the median does.
- Remember what the sale price leaves out. Concessions don't appear in the reported prices, so the terms of comparable sales matter as much as their prices.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Franklin County still a seller's market as of September 2026?
Mostly. Franklin County had 2.3 months of supply in September 2026, and the region had 2.6. Columbus REALTORS treats roughly 5 to 6 months as balanced and still describes central Ohio as seller-leaning. Rising inventory and price reductions do give buyers more time to compare homes.
Why do two reports on the same suburb show different prices?
They may cover different areas or different time periods. A "Corp." figure and a school district figure with the same name cover different homes, and a single month includes far fewer sales than a year-to-date figure. In Hilliard's case for September 2026, those differences produced results ranging from up 22.3% to down 5.9%.
Where can I see the full data for a specific Franklin County suburb?
Columbus REALTORS publishes a sortable table of September 2026 statistics by county, city and school district, with a full report linked for each area. The October 2026 figures will replace these once they're released.
If you're weighing Hilliard against Dublin, or Gahanna against New Albany, and the numbers you've seen don't agree, that's where Anthony Rose Homes can help. Anthony can pull the year-to-date sales, list-price ratios and price per square foot for the specific homes you're considering, so your offer reflects what comparable houses actually sold for. Let's Connect.
