Southwestern MI Recent Market

The current market snapshot has been released from SWMAR, the local Association for REALTORS here in Southwestern MI.  I am the incoming President of the Association and appreciate the following information.

The Sunset Coast of Michigan is alive and well!

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The Housing Market in Southwestern Michigan

As we entered into the fall months it is going to be interesting to see if the huge benefit of the Stimulus Tax Credit and current closed sales will keep us on par with last year.  The continual decline in mortgage rates, which are now at a 50-year record low, is making home ownership more affordable and attractive than renting.  A year ago, October mortgage rates were at 5.22 locally and now they have dropped to 4.47. A positive sign for sellers is that the year to date average selling and median prices are remaining above last year's. 

After the number of closed homes slumped in September, October bounced back by 14 percent. 

We dropped 12 percent behind October 2009.  Year-to-date we have slipped 4 percent behind or 80 houses short of last year.  The dollar volume for closed transactions in October fell 19 percent below that in October 2009.  However, year-to-date total dollar volume remains up 2 percent for this year.. 

October's average selling price declined 8 percent from a year ago ($170,512 vs. $185,919) while the median price jumped 13 percent ($127,000 vs. $112,250).  Year-to-date the average selling price was up 7 percent and the median price was up 10 percent. The median price is the price at which 50% of the homes sold were above that price and 50% were below.

While the foreclosed homes situation is still making the news, we keep experiencing a market with two-thirds of the homes sold and closed completed through normal transactions.  Transactions involving foreclosed or bank owned properties were at 30 percent in October. In September we were at 31 percent and in July we hit our lowest point at 24 percent. The lowest point in 2009 was 34 percent.

On October 31^st, we had 3,385 houses listed for sale, which is a 5 percent drop from the number of houses listed for sale in September and 5 percent less than in October 2009. With this inventory level, based on the last 12- month's sales, we have a 16.6-month supply of homes for sale.  Last year in October our inventory was at 17.8 months.

This data reflects home sales across 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®. 

Financing Rates At A Glance