Category Archives: Market Update

Low Inventory Causes Rise in Home Prices

Market Update

The average sales price of Lansing area homes has increased $14,919 during the past twelve months (March 2017 to March 2018). Low inventory continues to dramatically favor sellers while affordable mortgage rates giving buyers a unique purchasing advantage.

Average Lansing Area home prices increase steadily
The average sales price of homes in the Greater Lansing area has risen 10.7% from $139,690 at the end of March 2017 to $154,609 in March 2018. Check out our First Quarter Sales Statistics Link (below) for an update sales activity by community.

First Quarter 2018 Sales Statistics

Low inventory resulted in homes selling quickly during past six months
As of the April 30, the number of available homes for sale is in the Greater Lansing market was only 1436 units. This low volume has been a standard for the past three and a half years. A balanced market, favoring neither buyer or seller, would be at between 3000 to 3400 units.

The inventory Absorption Rate, the average time it takes to sell a home, has dropped from 2.5 months to 1.8 months. Absorption rate varies by community and price range.

Multiple Offers…the New Norm

Buyer Information, Market Update

The Greater Lansing housing market continues to suffer from low inventory.  As of the end of April there are 16% fewer homes for sale than were available at the same time last year.  Lack of inventory has been a serious problem for the past 42 months with real estate buyers struggling to find a home as demand outweighs the supply.

Multiple-offer situations have become commonplace

Because of high demand, homes have been getting continuous showings beginning on the day of listing. A few days later, sellers are presented with multiple offers for well over the asking price. It is not unusual for a seller to receive as many as 12 to 16 offers. To succeed in this competitive housing market a buyer must be ready to make a strong offer and act quickly. It’s essential that buyer have mortgage financing if place with a letter of pre-approval from the bank. To protect from making a hasty decision, the buyer should spend time viewing a selection of homes to become acquainted with the market. Finally, when the buyer discovers a home that they’d like to make an offer on, they should remember that if they like the home…someone else will too.

For home buyers, these trends highlight the importance of working with an experienced real estate agent when making a purchase. An agent can help you navigate the local real estate market and make a strong offer in a timely fashion.

What this means for sellers

In the current seller’s market, homes tend to sell faster and at a higher percentage of the initial list price.  It is not unusual to see offers of 10 to 15% above the listed price.