Washtenaw home and condo sales plunge
July 23rd, 2007 - Category: Condo, Real EstateIn the first half of 2007, home and condo sales in Washtenaw County fell nearly 16 percent compared to the same period in 2006 - the largest midyear sales drop in at least seven years, statistics show.
“The inventory of homes is still very large and getting larger, in my opinion,” said Timm Williams, an agent with Prudential Snyder & Company Realtors who is president of the Ann Arbor Area Board of Realtors.
“It’s still a buyer’s market and there is still a lot of downward pressure on prices.”
Statistics through June from the Realtors board show sales of homes and condos are down 15.7 percent to 1,698 units sold compared to 2006. A year ago, the average sale price of a home here was $267,505; now, it’s $246,269.
By comparison, combined home and condo sales in Livingston, Macomb, Oakland, St. Clair and Wayne counties were down 6.9 percent for the first six months of 2007 versus 2006, according to Realcomp, a Farmington Hills-based multiple listing service.
On its own, Livingston County saw a 14 percent sales drop - still a bit better than Washtenaw.
“We were hit by some economic issues as far as some companies laying off (workers), but we have some terrific opportunities coming up over the next two to three years with Google and Toyota,” said Debbi Dybevik, an agent with Coldwell Banker Schweitzer in Ann Arbor.
“Regardless of the doom and gloom, the market is just adjusting and personally, and from the data I’ve seen, I think we are at the tail end of the adjustment,” Dybevik added, noting that she expects home values to begin appreciating again in 2008.
One of the area’s biggest single economic blows came in January, when Pfizer Inc. announced it would close its local operations and cut 2,100 jobs. About 642 workers had accepted transfer offers as of this week, according to Pfizer spokesman Rick Chambers. It is unclear how many of those people have put their homes up for sale.
But Pfizer isn’t the whole story, real estate agents say. Rather, it’s a confluence of factors that circle back to the auto industry’s downsizing, the state’s slumping economy and the fact that so many people are in financial trouble and even foreclosure after locking into non-traditional mortgages - such as interest-only or some adjustable rate loans - in recent years.
The number of foreclosed homes sold at the monthly sheriff’s auction in Washtenaw County increased 80 percent through the first five months of 2007 compared to the same period in 2006, according to the Washtenaw County Clerk’s office.
However, Washtenaw County still enjoys some of the highest average and median home sale prices in Michigan.
The median home sale price in Washtenaw County was $227,000 in June. While that’s down $19,000 from 2006, it’s higher than the median home and condo price in any neighboring county: The median sale price in June was $206,000 in Livingston and $187,000 in Oakland; in Wayne, it was $99,900.
Statewide, the average sale price through May - the most recent month that statistics are available for - was $136,566.
Sales are most brisk in the under-$200,000 range here, Williams said. Luxury homes are a tougher sell.
According to detailed statistics for eight local school districts provided to The News by the Realtors board, listings are up while sales are down in the Ann Arbor, Dexter, Manchester and Saline school districts.
However in Chelsea, listings fell while sales increased from 59 homes sold through June 2006 to 74 through June 2007. Listings and sales are also up in Lincoln Consolidated Schools and Whitmore Lake Public Schools, while both are down in Ypsilanti.
Average June sale prices, on the other hand, are down in all districts except for Manchester and Whitmore Lake.
The market has been tough on not only sellers but real estate agents, too, said Mike McGee of Edward Surovell Realtors.
Beyond educating sellers about setting a realistic price, decluttering and getting their homes in the best shape possible to list for sale, agents must advertise their listings much more to compete with all the other houses on the market.
