While home sales in metro Detroit continue to inch up, the median price for homes sold in the first six months of 2015 soared more than 16 percent to $144,000 when compared to the same period last year, says the latest report from Realcomp II in Farmington Hills.
"I think that people are starting to feel better about the economy," says Karen Kage, CEO of Realcomp, a multiple listing service. "As you see properties coming on the market, people are eager to buy and are bidding sometimes more than what the asking price is, which just helps boost up the appraisal prices, so then that boosts up the (home) prices."
Home sales in metro Detroit were up about 2 percent, with more than 24,000 homes sold from January to June, with inventory increasing by nearly 3 percent year over year.
Oakland County led the way with median home sale prices from January to June — up by 12 percent to nearly $195,000. Sales were up 8 percent with 8,700 units sold over the six-month period. Inventory in Oakland County was up 7 percent. In Macomb County, the median home sale price jumped 11 percent to about $128,000, and units sold increased by 7 percent to 5,400 year over year.
In Wayne County, while units sold in the first half decreased by nearly 6 percent when compared to 2014, home prices rose to about $96,000, up nearly 36 percent year over year.
The average home in metro Detroit sold for nearly $163,000 in June, up about 9 percent when compared to the same period last year, says the latest monthly report.
For the month of June, home sales in metro Detroit were up more than 13 percent compared with June 2014. Lapeer saw the largest increase in home sales compared with last year with a 26 percent increase in sales. In Oakland County, there were more than 2,000 home sales last month, up 20 percent year over year.
Kage says every county Realcomp tracks saw an increase in the median sale price in June. The average home in Oakland County sold for $220,000, up 10 percent from last year. The Detroit area (defined as the city of Detroit, Hamtramck, Harper Woods, and Highland Park) saw a nearly 32 percent increase in the median home sale price at $21,000 in June. Market inventory increased by nearly 2 percent from last June.
"People see that the homes are appraising well so they feel better about putting their home on the market," Kage says. "They feel more comfortable that they can get the price they feel like they need to get. That's what a lot of (people) have been waiting for."
Kage says she expects July will be an equally good month for home sales.
"In June, we went back to look at the number of pending sales, too, because that is a good reflection of what the close sales will look like," Kage says. "Pending sales in June were up another 15 percent over last year, so I think you're going to see July look as good as June did."
