The average price for a single-family home or condominium sold in metro Detroit rose to $135,000 in August — a 55.2-percent increase — when compared with August 2012, while sales for the same period dropped because of low inventory, according to a report released Monday.
“The increase in the median sale price mainly has to do with the lack of inventory that’s available right now,” says Karen Kage, CEO of Realcomp in Farmington Hills, which issues the monthly real estate report. “We’ve seen the inventory continue to fall pretty consistently throughout the year. That’s also what’s contributing to the lower number of sales which showed a 2.5 percent decrease from August 2012.”
According to Realcomp, there were 20.3 percent fewer residences and condos listed in the region in August than the same time last year. Kage attributes this to real estate holdings spending less time on the market.
“We’re still seeing a lot of listings coming in,” Kage says. “They’re just selling really quick. A year ago, what was selling had been on the market for an average of 77 days. A year later, that timeframe has dropped to 50 days.”
The fast pace can likely be accredited to the return of consumer confidence, “which is a nice thing to see,” Kage says. In addition to more inventory, Kage says she would like to see those prices level off a little bit and not rise so quickly.
Of the 5,454 residences and condos that were sold in August, 20.2 percent were foreclosures. In August 2012, 34.5 percent of sales were foreclosures.
Metro Detroit — which encompasses Oakland, Wayne, Macomb, and Livingston counties — seems to be on par with the other regions included in Realcomp’s report. Compared to August 2012, the mean sale price for all MLS sales, which includes all listings processed by Realcomp both in and outside of Michigan, was 45.3 percent higher in August 2013. This comes alongside a 1.2 percent decrease in sales and a 16.7 percent decrease in residences and condos listed on the market.
