Median Home Sale Prices Continue Rising Locally This Spring, Report Shows

Refreshing news for local home-sellers is in the latest look at sale prices for homes and condos in four Metro Detroit counties.

Median prices rose to $70,000 in Macomb, Oakland Livingston and Wayne last month, a 1.6-percent rise from March. The new median is nearly 19 percent higher than in April 2011, says a report Monday from Realcomp II Ltd., a multiple listing service in Farmington Hills.

Selling prices rose within each county, extending a four-month trend for 2012. Livingston County has the highest median ($150,000), followed by Oakland ($114,500), Macomb ($72,500) and "Greater Wayne," excluding Detroit ($62,000). Percentage increases from the previous April are in a table below.  

Sales volume slipped for the first time in 10 months as fewer residential properties were on the market – 19,119 in Metro Detroit, 20 percent below the number of  listings a year earlier.

Realtors sold 4,341 residences metro-wide last month, 89 fewer than the previous month.   

"Low interest rates have created very strong buyer demand for housing, and with declining listing inventory levels there simply aren't enough quality listings to keep up with buyer demand," said Brian Powers, a Macomb-area realtor with Keller Williams Realty. "Homes in desirable areas like Macomb Township can expect multiple offers within seven to 10 days if priced properly and marketed aggressively."

Oakland County had the largest total of April deals in Metro Detroit, with 1,448 purchases.

Earlier Realcomp II figures for this year's first quarter showed a median price jump of nearly 10 percent in the four metro counties (excluding Detroit), compared to the first three months of 2011. Sales volume rose from January through March by more than 700 homes and condos, a 6.4-percent uptick from the opening quarter of 2011.  

“I think the market is improving, absolutely,” said Jan Calcaterra, an associate broker in the Macomb area for Real Estate One. “We still have a good portion of our homes that are bank owned or short sale … but on the private sales out there we are getting multiple offers.”

Although Calcaterra was hesitant to say she has seen home values increase significantly over the past year, she said they have held steady.

"If they're nice, nice homes, we typically will get multiple offers on them and over the asking price," she said. "When (buyers) see a nice home, they all jump on it and there can only be one winner."

Data from six other Southeast Michigan counties is also available in Monday's report. Overall, residential sales during April rose nearly 1 percent to 5,429 in a year-to-year comparison of all 10 counties. Median prices climbed 20 percent to $72,000.

Homes and condos generally sell faster than in previous months, Realcomp indicates. Average time on market was 83 days for properties sold last month, five days fewer than in March. In Macomb, the average was 73 days.

"We have seen some very positive signs over the past year, most notably a strong increase in the volume of homes sold with a sharp decrease in listing inventory," Powers said. "It's very, very competitive out there amongst buyers right now, which is a good development for home sellers."

Summary by counties

Area

April sales totals

Change from April 2011

April median price

Change from April 2011

Oakland

1,148

1.5%

$114,500

9.0%

Macomb

922

8.9%

$72,500

13.3%

Greater Wayne*

1,291

-1.9%

$62,000

24.2%

Livingston

182

-9.5%

$150,000

7.1%

* Greater Wayne covers that county, minus Detroit.    

Source: Realcomp II Ltd.