Much in line with previous reports, housing prices in metro Detroit continue to show significant year-over-year increases. The average single-family home or condominium in the region sold for $120,800 in December 2013, or 40.9 percent more than the average $85,750 the year before, says a monthly report by Realcomp in Farmington Hills.
“It’s looking like (December’s numbers) stayed pretty consistent with where we’ve been all of last year, which is great — we really needed it,” says Karen Kage, CEO of Realcomp, the Realtor-owned multiple listing service.
The report also found a .2 percent year-over-year increase in overall sales, which similar to the increasing prices, can be attributed in part to a lack of inventory, Kage says. Metro Detroit, for instance, saw a 10.5 percent dip in the number of market listings when compared to the year before.
“If there’s no inventory, we can’t make the sales,” Kage says. “The problem there is that people putting their houses on the market are usually looking to buy one as well. The time on the market is getting shorter and shorter.”
As of December 2013, the average home in metro Detroit spent 49 days on the market.
Of the 4,077 metro Detroit residences sold in December, about 23 percent were foreclosure sales compared to about 35 percent of foreclosure sales in December 2012.
