March 2020 Real Estate Market Update – Oakland County, Michigan

We have your Oakland County March 2020 Real Estate Market Updates. Like I say in every single time, we prefaced this with two things, but first, really quick, I just want to wish all of you well. Hopefully, your families are doing well. I hope you're doing well. As I said a month ago and the last ones that we're going to do this through thick and thin, through hell or high water. We're going to give you the updates because this is most people's most important and biggest financial investment they've made. So we need the correct information to go forward and make the decisions we need to make. Let's jump right into this.

Days on market

DOM - anytime we see that, 56 two years ago, 60 last year and 60 this year. So it hasn't changed much. It's kind of seeing that across the board with days on market. These other numbers though are gonna be interesting. So hold on tight.

Active number of homes

This is a one-day sample. How many homes were active that very second when that data was polled? Three thousand five hundred sixty-nine two years ago, 4,070 last year and then 3,708 this past March.

Month of inventory

Two 2 years ago, three last year, and then two, or just under three this year. So just to give you context, one to three months is a seller's market. Four to six is a balanced market and then seven plus is a buyer's market. Meaning there's more supply than there are buyers. We have been and still are basically in a seller's market, just not a lot of inventory. We're going to see a little more of that here.

New homes in the market.

Two years ago, 3,096, last year at 2,949 and then this year, 2,385, a huge drop-off. Again, we're seeing this throughout Metro Detroit. It's because obviously there's crazy stuff that happened in the last two weeks of March. Real estate people didn't know what was going on. People didn't have any idea about the mandates, the orders, things that were going on. There wasn't a ton of homes listed like there usually is. So we had a big drop-off there. It can be very interesting to see going forward what happens. However, we are already hurting for homes. This is even less now, but there's going to be fewer buyers though because we already saw a 25% to 33% decrease in mortgage applications in the last month. So it's gonna be very interesting going forward, guys. As I said, we're gonna do this every month because this is super, super important. This is most people's retirement. This is most people's biggest investment, whatever it might be. This is huge, right? This is very big stuff and it's going to be a catalyst for the economy and a lot of things going on.

Price per square foot

$118 two years ago, $119 last year, and then $133 this year. Remember, these are lagging indicators right here. This one, especially this one. What things were closing? Things that went under contract in January and February closing in March. $133 a square foot. Again, things were increasing. It's just, you know, we'll see what goes, what happens going forward. But I doubt that's going to stay the same.

Sold

This is the number of people actually closing on the home as a closing table, 1,681 two years ago, 1,552 last year, and 1,602 this year. So again, a little bump from last year. We're kind of seeing 2018 levels. This is a lagging indicator because of what went under contract in January and February, remember that. Like I always say that number shouldn't change very much unless there's a catastrophe and we had one. So I've been saying that for years that this number shouldn't change all that much because buyer pool stays kind of the same, kind of similar month to month, year over year unless there's a catastrophe or some type of anomaly. And we had that, that Black Swan event. So this is gonna be interesting to see what happens going forward. Some of these numbers are really going to change in the coming months. I'm excited to see them because I'm a numbers guy. This also represents a lot of pain though too, that people are going to be going through. So I'm just, I'm praying for all of you.

I hope all of you are safe and healthy. I look forward to bringing these numbers because it's just important to have this when you're in. Be armed with this that way you can make decisions that are gonna help you and your family. So again, this is the Oakland County March 2020 Real Estate Market Update. We appreciate you guys, your time, your energy. It's the most important asset we have. If you want to see the other updates. They're on the podcast, on the Facebook or YouTube channel @legacygroupmi. Go check it out there. Your question, comment, the concern there. If you're on the podcast, jump over there, see the other updates. And just look forward to doing this month over month after month that we have been for four or five years now and giving this content. Cause I know I learned a ton from doing these, seeing the patterns and seeing the trends. It's just, it's huge to be able to have this at your fingertips, so appreciate you guys more than anything. We'll see you on the other ones and we'll see you next month.