ST. JOSEPH, MI ? "Since July we have seen monthly housing sales bounce up and down with no particular pattern. For example July, normally a peak-selling month, had only 170 houses sold and closed when August had 232. Then September had 192, October 212 andNovember had 168. As people get ready for the holidays, November typically has a decline in sales. However thanks to the tax incentive, year-to-date we have stayed ahead of last year until September for the number of house sold and by the end of November we fell 5 percent behind last year. At this point in the year, our year-to-date average selling prices are still up for the year, but the monthly trend appears to be a downward trend from a high earlier in the year," stated Gary Walter, EVP, of the Southwestern Michigan Association of REALTORS?, Inc.
Read more: November SWMI Home Sales Decline ? Prices Remain Up
At the end of the third quarter, we can say that our market overall has had a solid year. We have had many months with double digit percentage increases in number of houses sold and total dollar volume over last year. In each quarter the number of houses sold has been up by at least 20 percent over the same quarter the year before. The total dollar volume in the first quarter was up 9 percent over the previous year, by the end of the second quarter it was up 30 percent and now at the end of the third quarter it is up 42 percent.
Read more: The Housing Market in Southwestern Michigan ? October 2012
