Most move-up buyers I meet in Powell start the conversation with the same question: should we build or should we buy something already standing? It sounds like a lifestyle preference, but in Powell right now it's really a price-band question in disguise. The new-construction inventory and the resale inventory are not competing for the same buyer, and once you see where each one lives on the price curve, the decision gets a lot cleaner.

Here's the thesis I want you to leave with. In Powell in mid-2026, active new construction clusters below the market median, while the $900,000-and-up luxury tier is almost entirely resale. Whichever tier you're shopping in, one option is doing most of the work and the other is the exception. Knowing which is which changes how you write your offer.

The price bands barely overlap

Start with what's actually on the market. As of June 2, 2026, one central-Ohio tracker listed 37 new-construction homes in Powell with an average of 70 days on site, an average of $276.28 per square foot, and a median list price of $525,150. Now put that next to the closed-sale picture. A Q1 2026 report covering 106 closed residential sales in zip code 43065 broke down into 86 single-family homes and 20 condos, and the 86 single-family closings produced $56.5 million in volume with a median sold price of $594,835 and an average of $656,773.

The gap between the new-build median list and the closed resale median is real money, and it tells you where each side is fishing.

Two things jump out. First, the new-construction pool sits meaningfully below the median resale sale. Second, the per-square-foot premium at the top of the market is where builder economics and buyer expectations both live. If you're shopping the $500K-to-$600K band, new construction is a live option because that's where builders are actively delivering. If you're shopping above $800K, you're almost certainly looking at resale, and the per-foot number reflects finish level, not scarcity alone.

The Q1 days-on-market number is a trap

There's a stat floating around that will scare a first-time move-up seller if they read it without context. The median days on market for single-family homes was 79 days in Q1 2026, and the average was 81.8, which compared to the full-year 2025 median of 10 days looks alarming, but it isn't. Q1 always catches a backlog of listings that went active in fall or early winter and couldn't find buyers during the slow season.

The seasonality is doing the work here. January produced 20 single-family closings, February added 25, and March delivered 41, more than the two previous months combined. Buyers who sat out the winter came off the sidelines in late February and early March, which is exactly the pattern you'd expect in a healthy Central Ohio spring. Meanwhile the pricing side stayed firm: exactly 50% of single-family homes sold at or above their list price, and the median sale-to-list ratio landed at essentially 100%, meaning sellers with well-priced, well-presented homes are getting close to asking.

Translation for a move-up buyer: don't read Q1 DOM as leverage. Read it as a winter artifact. Well-priced homes in the strong pockets still move.

Where resale is doing all the work: the $900K+ tier

If you're shopping at a million dollars in Powell, you're shopping resale, full stop. The $900K to $1.3M range in Powell today is primarily a resale market, and unlike Lewis Center, where new construction periodically refreshes the inventory at this price point, Powell's luxury activity is largely driven by homeowners who purchased five to fifteen years ago at lower prices and are now transacting at significantly higher values.

What that produces is a very specific kind of inventory. Buyers see homes that have been lived in, often significantly upgraded, and carry the outdoor-living investment that takes years to accumulate, including pools, screened porches, outdoor kitchens, and finished lower levels; finding a Powell home at $1M with a well-established pool, landscaped backyard, and finished lower level is realistic, while finding the same configuration in new construction at a comparable price requires custom building, which is a different process entirely.

Names to know at this tier. Golf Village is built around the private Kinsale Golf and Fitness Club, an Arthur Hills-designed course that opened in 2004, with a full fitness and wellness center, tennis courts, a pool complex, dining, and an active social calendar; homes in Golf Village and the surrounding Golf Village Estate neighborhood frequently transact above $1M. Wedgewood, built in the 1990s and 2000s around the Wedgewood Golf and Country Club, pairs a championship golf course with mature trees, larger lots, and the architectural character that comes with an older neighborhood. Scioto Reserve rounds out the trio buyers most often ask me about at this price.

The interpretation matters more than the addresses. A buyer relocating from a coastal market who insists on new construction at $1M in Powell is asking the market to give them something it isn't producing right now. A custom build gets you there, but the timeline and the process are different animals.

Where new construction wins on paper: the $475K to $600K band

Flip the frame. If your target is $500K, new construction is not the exception — it's the headline. Recent Powell new-build activity has been concentrated in a handful of communities that a move-up buyer coming from an older starter home should have on their tour list: Encore Park, Liberty Grand, Clarkshaw Crossing, and Harpers Pointe among them. Recent closings and active listings in these communities span from the mid $400s into the $1.2M range for larger custom plans, with the bulk sitting in the high $400s to high $500s.

What you're buying at this tier is finish level, floor plan efficiency, and warranty coverage. What you're giving up is the mature landscaping and outdoor-living investment that the $900K+ resale tier delivers as a matter of course. That's the tradeoff, and it isn't the same tradeoff in every price band.

One more piece of context. On the price distribution side in Q1 2026, 22.1% of single-family sales fell in the $400,000 to $499,000 range and 23.3% in the $500,000 to $599,000 range, so those two segments together made up nearly half of all Q1 single-family closings. This is where most of the actual transactions are happening. If that's your band, you have real optionality between new and resale.

The transaction friction most move-up buyers miss

Here's what tends to catch people during the offer stage. Your leverage isn't uniform across Powell — it moves with the segment.

• Competing for a scarce club-lot or new spec home. Expect tight timelines and limited flexibility on concessions. If you're competing for a standout club-lot or new spec home, consider a non-contingent offer if your finances allow, arrive with a strong pre-approval, underwriting guidance from your lender, and clear proof of funds for earnest money.
• Shopping larger mid-market homes or condos. Here you may have room to negotiate price, timing, and inspection remedies, and as inventory trends up across Central Ohio, more buyers are securing seller credits or favorable terms compared with the peak bidding-war era.
• Selling first to buy next. If you rely on sale proceeds, plan conservatively and build a realistic 30- to 60-day window for your sale and closing.

The friction is real: you can be a strong buyer in one Powell segment and a weak buyer in another on the same afternoon. That's the piece the median-price headlines miss.

FAQ

Is Powell still a seller's market in 2026? It's mixed. The Powell market is mixed, inventory and days on market have increased in many segments which helps buyers, but standout listings in top neighborhoods can still move fast. Segment matters more than the citywide average.

How close is Powell to downtown Columbus? Powell sits roughly 20 to 25 minutes north of downtown Columbus and the Short North under normal traffic conditions via US-23, and the Sawmill Road corridor provides immediate access to retail, dining, and services without requiring a Columbus commute for everyday needs.

Why do different websites show different Powell medians? Expect micro-market variance by neighborhood and price band; if you see different medians across websites, that is normal because trackers use different geography lines, time windows, and whether they blend listed or closed data, so pick one consistent source for your personal benchmark, date it, and then lean on neighborhood-level comps when it is time to make an offer or price your sale.

Let's map your Powell move to the right price band

If you're weighing a Powell move, the most useful hour we can spend together is walking the price band you're actually shopping and matching it to what the current inventory is producing. I know these neighborhoods block by block, and I'll tell you plainly whether new construction or resale is the stronger play for what you want. Let's connect at Sarah Berlin Moore and we'll build a plan that fits your budget, your timeline, and the segment you're really shopping.