Each month MoodyOnTheMarket.com brings you an exclusive first look at the past month’s residential real estate market in Southwest Michigan. Once again, we find that fewer homes were sold, while prices continued to rise during the month of October. Here are the details, courtesy of the Southwestern Michigan Association of Realtors:
The housing market sales in SWMI continued to decline and stay below the sales level in October for the last ten years. October was the tenth consecutive month for sales to fall behind in the same month of 2022.
Selling prices, however, continued to set records, reaching the highest price in October, comparing back to beyond the peak years to 2006. However, selling prices increased by less than 6 percent.
The decreasing inventory of houses available for sale is the main contributor, with an 8 percent decrease in the level available from a year ago (802 vs. 873). With the lower sales volume, the months-supply level decreased slightly to 4.9 from 5.0-months supply in September for homebuyers. For comparison, in October 2010, there were 3385 houses for sale for a 16.6-months supply of houses.
The market is also restrained by the Freddie Mac mortgage rate for a 30-year conventional mortgage, increasing to 7.79 from 7.31 in September. In October 2022, the rate was 7.08, and in 2021, the rate was 3.14.
October house sales dropped 7 percent from October 2022 (273 vs. 294). Year-to-date in October, there were 2393 houses sold, compared to 2818 houses in October 2022, for a 15 percent decline in sales.
The average selling price in October 2023 increased 1 percent to $392,273 compared to $386,894 in October 2022. Year-to-date, in October 2023, the average selling price rose 6 percent to $361,102 from $341,454 in October 2022.
The median selling price in October 2023 at $274,500 rose 6 percent from $260,000 in October 2022. Year-to-date, the median selling price increased 4 percent ($260,000 vs. $249,250).
The median price is the price at which 50% of the homes sold were above that price and 50% were below.
The total dollar volume in October 2023 dropped 6 percent compared to October 2022 ($106,950,822 vs. $113,747,087). The year-to-date total dollar volume fell 10 percent ($864,405,599 vs. $962,220,066).
The number of bank-owned or foreclosed homes as a percentage of all transactions decreased to 1 percent from 3 percent in September. It was at 3 percent in October 2022. The highest percentage in October previously was 34 percent in 2009.
This data reflects home sales across Allegan, Berrien, Cass, and the westerly 2/3 of Van Buren Counties and should not be used to determine the market value of any individual property. If you want to know the market value of your property, please contact your local REALTOR®.
