Home sales in January in metro Detroit fell 3.4 percent to 3,080 units, as compared to 3,187 sales in the same period last year, according to RE/MAX of Southeastern Michigan in Troy. During the same period, the median sales prices rose 6.8 percent to $186,007, from $174,219 in January 2017.
Average days on the market in the region in January was 41 days, up slightly from 45 days in the same month last year. The supply of homes was at 1.8 months in January, down from 2.5 months in January 2017. A supply of six months is considered balanced.
“The lack of existing and new construction homes available for purchase has led to a dip below a two-month supply of inventory,” says Jeanette Schneider, vice president of RE/MAX of Southeastern Michigan. “This dynamic is one of the main reasons home prices are rising, and we anticipate this will be a situation repeated throughout the year.”
Nationally, home sales were down 2.8 percent year-over-year, based on MLS data in 53 metro areas. RE/MAX’s National Housing Report shows homes sold in an average 60 days last month. This is the fewest days on market of any January in the report’s nine-year history.
Usually, days on market decline each month leading into spring and summer until July, when they start increasing. Last month’s 60 days is up three days from the average in December 2017 but down six days from the January 2017 average. Days on the market is the number of days from when a home is listed in a multiple listing service and a sales contract is signed.
“We recently saw the groundhog predict six more weeks of winter, but January housing numbers are telling a different story,” says Adam Contos, CEO of RE/MAX. “It looks like the spring selling season may have arrived early because home buyers are not slowing down. The speed of this market is on pace with what we saw in the prime of the 2017 selling season.”
The national median sales price – $224,000 – also set a January record and is up 6.7 percent from January 2017. This price is down 4.7 percent from December 2017.
