Are There New Homes in Columbus, Ohio Under $300K? Only 29

There are 29 of them.

I pulled every active new construction listing in the Columbus REALTORS MLS on September 14, 2026, across the seven counties I work in. Franklin, Delaware, Licking, Fairfield, Madison, Union and Pickaway. There are 671 new construction homes listed. Forty one carry a list price under $300,000. Twelve of those forty one are manufactured homes, which is a different product on a different kind of ground. Strip those out and you have 29 site-built new homes under $300,000 in central Ohio.

The median new construction list price in those same counties is $510,960.

How Many New Homes in Columbus Are Under $300K?

Twenty nine, out of 671. That is 4.3 percent of the new construction market.

Now put it next to the whole market. There are 6,587 active listings in those same seven counties, new and resale together. Of those, 2,366 are under $300,000. That is 35.9 percent.

Segment	Active listings	Under $300,000	Share
All central Ohio listings	6,587	2,366	35.9%
New construction, all	671	41	6.1%
New construction, site-built only	671	29	4.3%
New construction under $200,000, site-built	671	3	0.4%

Source: Columbus REALTORS MLS, active listings pulled September 14, 2026. New construction is defined here as a listed year built of 2025, 2026 or 2027.

Strip the 41 new listings out of that 2,366 and a buyer at $300,000 has 2,325 resale choices against 29 new ones. Eighty to one. That is not a criticism of builders. It is the math of what it costs to put a house in the ground right now, and I wrote out that math in detail in what it costs to build a house in Columbus.

Where Are the New Homes Under $300K?

Twenty one of the 29 are in Franklin County. The other eight are in Licking County. Nothing in Delaware, Union, Madison, Fairfield or Pickaway made the list without being manufactured.

By city it is Columbus 14, Newark 8, Canal Winchester 4, Galloway 3.

Community	Town	Listings	Price range	Type
The Village at Glen Ridge	Newark	6	$277,050 to $295,530	Condominium
Shannon Lakes and Shannon Lakes Townhomes	Canal Winchester	4	$277,920 to $298,510	Single family and townhome
Chatterton Commons	Columbus	3	$289,990 to $299,990	Condominium and single family
Villages of Galloway	Galloway	3	$299,900	Single family
Spangler Farms	Columbus	2	$287,490 to $289,490	Condominium and single family
Sunnyside	Columbus	1	$239,900	Single family
No subdivision named in the MLS	Columbus and Newark	10	$199,000 to $294,900	Single family

Those ten with no subdivision name are the interesting ones. Most are infill inside the city of Columbus, single houses going up on single lots rather than a section of a community. Three of them are the cheapest new construction in the region, all at $199,000. Two are 1,096 square foot two bedrooms finished in 2025. One is a 1,085 square foot three bedroom finished in 2026.

If you are searching the resale side of this price band too, I broke down where the inventory actually sits in Columbus homes for sale under $300K.

What Do You Give Up to Get New Under $300,000?

Square footage, first. The 29 run a median of 1,438 square feet. New construction across central Ohio runs a median of 2,292 square feet. You are giving up roughly 854 square feet against the typical new build.

You are also paying more per foot than the sticker suggests you should. The under $300,000 group prices at a $182 median per square foot. The full new construction market prices at $224. That gap is smaller than most buyers expect, and it is the tell: builders are not giving you a discount on the finish, they are giving you less house.

Nine of the 29 are condominiums. Several more are townhomes. Detached single family on its own lot under $300,000 new is a narrow set.

And the plans repeat. Eleven of the 29 listings are the same 1,772 square foot floor plan, showing up in Chatterton Commons, Spangler Farms, Shannon Lakes and one unnamed Columbus listing. That is the entry plan for this price band in central Ohio right now.

I grew up around this work. My dad, my grandpa, my uncle and my great grandpa were builders, and I did it until I was twenty. So when I walk a house at the bottom of a builder's price sheet, I am not looking at the sticker. I am looking at where the money came out. Look at the window brand and whether the seals are right. Look at where the downspouts put water. Look at soffit and siding at the corners and at the grade around the foundation. None of that is a reason to walk away from a house at this price. It is a reason to know what you are buying before you sign, and to get a full home inspection, which you should do on new construction anyway.

What Actually Closed Under $300,000 This Year?

Listings tell you what is available. Closings tell you what buyers did with it.

Central Ohio recorded 1,576 new construction closings between January 2 and August 26, 2026. The median closed price was $495,314. Ninety one of those 1,576 closed under $300,000, which is 5.8 percent. Ninety of the 91 were site-built.

2026 new construction closings	Count	Median size	Median $/sq ft
All central Ohio new construction	1,576	2,268 sq ft	$214
Closed under $300,000	90	1,418 sq ft	$166

Source: Columbus REALTORS MLS, closings January 2 through August 26, 2026.

The closed prices ran $149,900 to $299,900. Sixty five of the 90 were three bedrooms and 24 were two bedrooms. The communities that actually delivered at this number were Willow Reserve in Etna and Reynoldsburg with 12, Villages of Galloway with 11, Spangler Farms with 9, and The Village at Glen Ridge with 4.

Notice that the closed list and the active list are nearly the same communities. That is useful. It means this is not a fluke of one week's inventory. The same four or five builders' sections have been producing the sub $300,000 new home in central Ohio all year, and if you want one, that is where to point.

Should You Buy New or Resale at $300,000 in Columbus?

I get asked this most weeks, so I will give you the version I give on the phone.

Buy new under $300,000 when the warranty and the zero deferred maintenance are worth more to you than the square footage and the location. A 1,438 square foot house with a builder warranty and nothing to fix for a while suits plenty of buyers, and it suits you especially if you travel, if you do not want a weekend project, or if you are buying alone.

Buy resale under $300,000 when you want the lot, the trees, the district or the space. At that price the resale market gives you 2,366 choices instead of 29. It also gives you a negotiation. A builder at the bottom of their price sheet in a section they are still selling has very little room and is usually protecting the price for the rest of the phase, which is why you see three identical $299,900 listings in Villages of Galloway rather than three different numbers.

One more thing that is specific to new. In a builder's sales office, the person across the desk works for the builder. Bring your own representation on the first visit, before you register, and ask that builder in writing what their agent registration policy is. Policies differ by builder and some of them will not add an agent after you have signed in alone. I wrote about how that plays out in is new construction worth it in Columbus.

What I Would Tell You to Do Next

If you have $300,000 and you want new, your list is about five communities plus a handful of infill lots, and it changes every week as sections sell out. Send me your criteria, or book a time at calendly.com/adam-geuy, and I will pull the current version of that list and send it over, along with what each builder is offering on rate and closing costs this month.

Thinking about buying or selling in Westerville or anywhere in central Ohio? Let's talk. Contact Adam Geuy at Blacktree Realty.

All figures in this post come from the Columbus REALTORS MLS. Active listings were pulled September 14, 2026. Closings cover January 2 through August 26, 2026. New construction is defined as a listed year built of 2025 through 2027.