Sales drop, prices jump for metro Detroit real estate market in January

DETROIT, MI - January marked the 11th straight month that metro Detroit median home sales prices rose by double-digits, climbing 38 percent year-over year to $110,000 according to Realcomp.

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Whiles sales prices continued to grow, inventory and the number of sales continued to shrink. Realcomp, the Farmington Hills-based multiple listings service for southeast Michigan, reports that home sales in metro Detroit fell 14 percent to 3,336 units in January. Sales in terms of units were flat in December.

Across Realcomp's total coverage area, which includes southeast Michigan and a small portion of northern Ohio, on-market inventory shrunk 10 percent to 19,263 homes.

Here's a closer look at year-over-year home sales by county in January:

Wayne
The median selling price jumped 44 percent to $64,900, while total units sold dropped 16 percent to 1,323 homes.

Oakland
The median selling price grew 17 percent to $155,000, while total units sold declined 11 percent to 1,120 homes.

Macomb
The median selling price climbed 30 percent to $105,000, while the number of units sold dropped 14 percent to 718 homes.

Livingston
The median selling price increased 20 percent to $179,200, while the total units sold fell 14 percent to 175 homes.

The Grosse Pointe area was the only region in Reaclomp's coverage where sales by units actually increased year-over-year in January. In the Grosse Pointe area, in which Realcomp includes all of the Pointes and Lake Township, total sales by units grew 17 percent, albeit on a modest 54 homes sold in December. The median selling price in the Pointes climbed 24 percent year-over-year to $197,500.

In the Detroit area, which includes the city of Detroit, Hamtramck, Harper Woods and Highland Park, the median selling price rose 19 percent to $11,913. Home sales by units dropped 21 percent to 380 homes.

Originally posted by: David Muller is the business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit.

http://janetandthomas.com/sales-drop-prices-jump-for-metro-detroit-real-estate-market-in-january/

HOUSING OUTLOOK: PRICE GAINS IN DOUBLE DIGITS

        According to CoreLogic's Home Price Index (HPI), the 11 percent increase in December home prices represented the 22nd consecutive monthly year-over-year increase.

Freezing temperatures did little to cool the housing market in January. The Pending HPI forecasts home prices to have risen 10.2 percent higher than the year before.

Excluding distressed sales, including short sales and foreclosures, equity sales prices rose 9.9 percent in December and are expected to rise 9.7 percent in January year-over-year.

A slowdown in momentum is not necessarily a halt to brisk housing sales.

"Last year, home prices rose 11 percent, the highest rate of annual increase since 2005, and ten states and the District of Columbia reached new all-time price peaks," said Dr. Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. "We expect the rising prices to attract more sellers, unlocking this pent-up supply, which will have a moderating effect on prices in 2014."

The latest quarterly report from the National Association of REALTORS® suggests that price gains are regional. While 119 out of 164 metropolitan statistical areas (73 percent) reported year-over-year price gains in Q4 2013, 42 areas or 26 percent showed double-digit gains. Forty-three percent recorded lower median prices.

Rising markets slowed down in Q4 from 88% in the third quarter and with 33 percent reporting double-digit growth.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, believes that home prices and mortgage rates are more expensive and are natural drags on higher prices, but that areas that are still seeing large gains will need more inventory for prices to moderate.

from Janet Hull and Thomas Bush

http://janetandthomas.com/housing-outlook-price-gains-in-double-digits/