DETROIT, MI – The latest numbers from Realcomp, the Farmington Hills-based Multiple Listing Service tracking home sales in Southeast Michigan, suggest that the trend of shrinking home sales volume and sharply rising sales prices continued in Metro Detroit in August.
The median selling price for homes in Metro Detroit – which Realcomp defines as Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Livingston counties – jumped 55 percent to $135,000 in August. At the same time, sales by volume in Metro Detroit fell 2.5 percent to 5,454 units.
Realcomp attributed the slow down in overall sales to lower inventory levels and a typically slower selling period at the end of summer. But the large, double-digit, year-over-year increase in the median selling prices has been a monthly occurrence since March.
Here’s a closer look at how each county fared in August, versus the same month in 2012:
Wayne
The median selling price jumped 60 percent to $80,000, while total units sold decreased 9.8 percent to 1,930 homes.
Oakland
The median selling price grew 32.0 percent to $185,000, while total units sold increased 2.3 percent to 2,048 homes.
Macomb
The median selling price rose 47.4 percent to $115,000, while total units sold grew 1,8 percent to 1,165 homes.
Livingston
The median selling price increased 15.5 percent to $190,500, while the total units sold was unchanged at 311 homes.
In the “Detroit area,” which Realcomp defines as the city of Detroit, Hamtramck, Harper Woods and Highland Park,” the median selling price increased 23.8 percent to $13,000 in August, while total sales fell year-over-year by 28.4 percent to 408 units.
Across Realcomp’s MLS coverage area, which includes all of southeast Michigan and parts of Ohio, on-market inventory shrunk 16.7 percent to 22,007 homes. Homes sold faster in August 2013 compared with a year ago, spending 21 fewer days on market on average at 56 days.
Of the 6,967 sales closed across Realcomp’s MLS area in August, 6.2 percent of the transactions were identified as short sales, and 35.8 percent were cash sales.
