September 2019 Real Estate Market Update – Oakland County, Michigan

We have your Oakland County Real Estate Market Update for September 2019 let's jump right in this.

We have two things that are the most common questions we get all the time. Why are we doing the month in arrears? Because we have had all the data now. It's in and it's ready for you to view. So that's why we have this because it's all fresh hot off the press and the month is closed out. The other thing we get all the time is why do your three years of data? Well, we have three years of data because - man, this is really bugging me, trying to be perfectionist over here. Really bugging me. We have three years of data because the trend is your friend. You want to build, see a pattern. You have to see a pattern. If I just gave you this year of data, it wouldn't make any sense, right? We do not make any sense at all. So we have three years of data that way you can see exactly what's going on. So let's jump right into this.

Days on market

DOM - anytime you see that. Thirty-seven days on the market two years ago, 34 last year and then 45 this year. That's crazy. We're seeing this across the board in Metro Detroit. September was an interesting month. We really had a lot of things just sitting, which was just weird. A lot of uncertainty in the markets, obviously politically, geopolitically. There's just a lot of stuff going on. Really weird time right now. With all-time low rates, we got, them dropping rates. Again, you've got to talk about them negative rates. Awesome. More of that in the Insider's Report. So check it out if you like geopolitical stuff, interest rates, all that stuff. Big stuff, macro, check out our Insider's Reports.

Active homes in the market

Five thousand four hundred forty-nine last year, 5,739 last year and then 6,129 this year. This is a one-day data though, that's a one-day sample. When the data was taken, how many homes on the market at that time?

Months of inventory

Three, three, three across the board. But this means at the rate homes are selling, how long would it take to sell every last home with no new homes coming on the market? In layman's terms, basically what it means is it's a quick ratio to know what kind of market we are in as a retail buyer, as an investor, seller, whatever it is. You got to know what kind of market you're in so you don't make the wrong decision, make the wrong choice. You need to know this - one to three months is a seller's market. Four to six months is a balanced market. Seven-plus, that's a buyer's market. So right now we're still in a seller's market. Sellers are getting more for their homes. As you're going to see down here with prices, increasing salaries, getting more for their homes. There's not a ton of inventory. Buyers are still struggling to find enough inventory for them to just see and the like. But when you have crashes or recessions, depressions, you have lots of homes in the market like in 2008-2012. We had 20 months of inventory, 15 months, 12 months of inventory. There's a ton of inventory. There's not a lot of buyers. So we want to be in this balanced region.

New homes in the market

This is the number of new listings that came on in the market that month. So this is a month-wide number. Unlike this, which is a one-day number. New homes that come on the market - 3,287 homes two years ago, 3,288 almost identical and then 3,468. So a little bit of increase, which is good going forward. We've seen that across the board and the counties in Metro Detroit. An increase of new homes coming on the market going forward. So, you never know, will the fall and winter months be a little bit better than they'd been? They're usually pretty good months actually in Michigan. So we'll see how that bodes going forward.

Price per square foot

$121 a square foot two years ago, $130 last year, 1$33 this year. So again, increase here. This is countywide data though. Remember that it's taking every city into consideration. So if you need an evaluation in your home, you have to have a professional come to your house. You got to have someone on our team and appraise or something, come to your house, give you an actual valuation on your home. And that way you're not just taking countywide data, but for the purpose of this, you can take this number, multiply by your square footage, you're going to get an approximate value of your home. But again, remember the trend is your friend. More importantly, this is the most important. You want to see, "Yes, my County has been rising in value over the last couple of years." So that's the most important thing.

Sold

It's the actual closings, actual people sitting down on a table. Just like the one you can't see here and close, actually signing their names, closing on a house. Two thousand seventy-four last year, 1,738 last year, and then 1,830 this year. An uptick again, a little bit from last year, which was good to see. Still not at 2017 levels, however, we haven't had a ton of inventory recently, so that's why there's probably less closing, right? Just like there was last year. Same situation.

So that's it, guys. That's your Oakland County update for 2019 in September. We appreciate your time, your energy spending with us. It really does mean a lot. It's the most important asset we have. If you're on the podcast, go to @legacygroupmi, on our Facebook or YouTube. Put your questions, comments, concerns there. We will get them answered. I appreciate you guys coming in. Like I said, and we do this every single month if you want, our macro - interest rate, geopolitical stuff, how it's gonna affect you in the long term and on and on and on. That's our Insider's Report. So check that. We just did an Insider's Report on a Warren Buffet and what he likes to invest in, what kind of return he likes to get. So that's one of our couple videos down here on YouTube and Facebook. Go check that out. And some things were coming. Negative interest rates coming ahead, that's most likely coming. We've already seen that in a handful of European countries and your pan and stuff. That's coming, what that means to you, getting paid to cold mortgages, but also getting charged to keep your money in a bank. So interesting stuff, right? Go check that video out there. And that's it. I appreciate you guys tuning in. We will see you at the next one.