In Cass County, housing market sales declined in August, while the selling prices increased over 40 percent for waterfront houses.
When we refer to all or overall housing types, we combine results for waterfront and non-waterfront houses. So in total 53 houses were sold in August 2023 compared to 69 in August 2022, for a 23 percent decrease. Separately, waterfront house sales fell 32 percent (17 vs. 25), and non-waterfront house sales dropped 18 percent (36 vs. 44).
Year-to-date, sales of all housing types declined 7 percent (362 vs. 388). Waterfront house sales were down 16 percent (67 vs. 80), and non-waterfront house sales dropped 2 percent (278 vs. 283).
In August, the overall average selling price rose 15 percent based on the rising selling prices of waterfront houses compared to August 2022 ($422,564 vs. $366,750). The overall median selling price in August at $265,000 increased 6 percent from $250,000 in August 2022.
The average selling price for waterfront homes soared 45 percent to $789,541 from $543,314 in August 2022. The median selling price for waterfront homes jumped 42 percent ($710,000 vs. $499,900).
In August, the average selling price for non-waterfront rose 11 percent to $249,269 from $225,858 in August 2022. The median selling price sky-rocketed 27 percent to $231,500 from $182,500 in August 2022.
The median price is the price at which 50% of the homes sold were above that price and 50% were below.
In Cass County, there were no bank-owned or foreclosed homes as a part of all closed transactions in August. The highest percentage in August previously was 11 percent in 2016.
For comparison, the number of bank-owned or foreclosed homes as a percentage of all transactions increased to 3 percent from 1 percent in July. It was 1 percent in August 2022. The previous lowest percentage was 0 percent in August 2021, and the highest percentage in August was 36 percent in 2009.
Across SWMI, housing sales reached the highest point for the year, which is a good note for the end of the summer’s peak selling season. However, this sales level was below the sales level in August for the last ten years.
The number one factor remains the extremely low inventory of houses available for sale. At the end of August, there were 848 houses for sale across Allegan, Berrien, Cass, and the westerly 2/3 of Van Buren Counties. According to 2021 census data, there were 77,308 households in Berrien County alone. In August 2022, there were 884 houses for sale.
The inventory of houses for sale fell 4 percent below the level available a year ago (848 vs. 884). With the lower sales volume, the months-supply level increased slightly to 4.9 from 4.0-months supply from a year ago for homebuyers. For comparison, in August 2010, there were 3,757 houses for sale for a 17.8-months supply of houses.
The second factor slowing down the market has been the increasing interest rate. The Freddie Mac mortgage rate in August was 7.18, up from 6.81 in July for a 30-year conventional mortgage. In August 2022, the rate was 5.55; in August 2021, the rate was 2.87.
The third crushing factor for homebuyers is that home selling prices increased and reached peak levels every month since May.
August house sales were down 8 percent from August 2022 (315 vs. 340). Year-to-date in August 1860 houses were sold, compared to 2185 houses in August 2022, for a 15 percent decline in sales.
The average selling price in August 2023 increased 11 percent to $396,933 compared to $356,179 in August 2022. Year-to-date, in August 2023, the average selling price rose 6 percent to $356,101 from $335,462 in August 2022.
The median selling price in August 2023 at $281,000 rose 13 percent from $248,750 in August 2022. Year-to-date, the median selling price increased by $10,000 ($255,000 vs. $245,000).
The total dollar volume in August 2023 dropped 3 percent compared to August 2022 ($124,889,612 vs. $ 121,100,896). The year-to-date total dollar volume fell 10 percent ($662,266,254 vs. $ 732,985,567).
When Selling a Home…
As we head into post-summer and the weather starts changing, this is a great time to scrutinize your house for those maintenance projects that should get done before winter hits.
September’s cooler temps and lower humidity make it the ideal time for staining your deck and sprucing up the yard. Aerate your lawn, reseed, or fertilize it if needed, and plant perennials and shrubs (staining and plants are often on sale now). Your lawn will green up faster after winter, and the shrubs and perennials will have a chance to establish roots before the first freeze.
Inspect your home’s exterior. Spending money on roof repairs is no thrill, but neither is repairing leak damage in the spring. Inspect your roof — and other big-ticket items, like siding, grading, and gutters — before you have problems.
Homebuyers will appreciate the extra attention to even the simple features you tackle, while you will help your home to weather the winter storms.
When buying a home…
Should you buy or rent? There are a lot of questions you have to ask yourself to determine if it makes sense for you at this time. Contacting a REALTOR® to discuss the details will help ease your mind. In addition, you can look just at the financial aspect of owning a home versus renting with the Realtor.com Rent or Buy calculator. This calculator can help you calculate the net cost of buying a home versus the cost of renting over time.
Net costs compare the total amount of money you would be spending over time minus the potential value you might receive if you someday sell the property. View the interactive graph and see what this looks like at different times and how it compares if you were instead paying rent.
From the tool, you’ll see that the amount of time you plan on keeping the home has a major impact. To get more personal, you can customize the advanced options to crunch more specific numbers and evaluate more specific scenarios. But keep in mind that a financial comparison is just one of many factors when deciding whether to rent or buy. Your REALTOR® can help you fill in the other factors based on the local market.
To view properties that are for sale in your local area, go to www.swmar.com, and click on “Search”. The Southwestern Michigan Association of REALTORS®, Inc. is a professional trade association for real estate professionals who are members of the National Association of REALTORS®, and ancillary service providers for the real estate industry in Allegan, Berrien, Cass, and Van Buren Counties. The Association can be contacted at 269-983-6375 or through their website at www.swmar.com.
SWMI & National Housing Market July Housing Market Sales Dropped Prices Set Records
