The residential real estate market in Michigan’s Great Southwest is showing some early signs of renewed life. However, there are still major restraints to be overcome. That’s the big picture, flowing from our monthly exclusive MoodyOnTheMarket.com ‘first look’ at the January housing market, courtesy of the Southwestern Michigan Association of Realtors.
Here are the details:
For the first time in a year the number of houses sold in January was higher than the same month in the previous year. The furious pace of the SWMI housing market in previous years is still restrained by available inventory, high mortgage rates, and rising selling prices.
In January 2024, the market ended with a low inventory of 569 houses for sale, down from 639 houses for sale in January 2023. Homebuyers in Allegan, Berrien, Cass, and the westerly 2/3 of Van Buren counties are facing a 3.6-months supply of homes, up slightly from the 3.3-month supply level in January 2023.
The Freddie Mac mortgage rate in January was 6.63, up slightly from the December rate of 6.42 and up from the 6.13 rate in January 2023 for a 30-year conventional mortgage.
The average selling price in January rose 6 percent to $317,702 from $299,531 in January 2023. The January 2024 average selling price was 4 percent lower than the $305,580 price in December 2023.
The January 2024 median selling price jumped 21 percent ($244,950 vs. $202,000). The median selling price in December 2023 was $233,501.
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 at $50,645,745 was up 12 percent from the $45,229,257 collected in January 2023.
There were nine bank-owned or foreclosed homes as a percentage of all transactions in January, or 6 percent of the closed transactions. The highest percentage historically in January was 57 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®.
Look for this exclusive preview of the monthly local real estate report weeks ahead of general release and publication in any other media. It’s a service of the Southwestern Michigan Association of Realtors and MoodyOnTheMarket.com .
