Updated- 4/1/2025

 

For some context, Inventory refers to the number of homes for sale at any time. As you would expect for this time of year, inventory went up for the first time in two months and is up 6% year-over-year. That's not saying much, considering inventory is still down 52% from pre-pandemic levels.  Each data point refers to a 90-day/7-day average. Across the 5-year graph, you can see, consistently, inventory has started to go down around November and December(an indication of people taking their homes off-market for the season). At this point, the number of price decreases slowly decelerates until April when it plateaus. This plateau coincides with an increase in housing inventory. You would also want to analyze your particular market segment’s market action index, median price, and median days on the market.

Under Market Segments, “age” refers to the median age of homes in that particular market segment. The correlation between “New” and “absorbed” is that, in the top tier, for example, there are 27 new homes(supply), with 33 sold or “absorbed”(demand) over 7 days.  On a macro level, you can see that demand is still outpacing supply but not as much as in previous weeks. 2 weeks ago, there were 24 new homes compared to 35 sold. A month ago, it was 15/21, six weeks ago 15/35.  So demand is still outpacing supply, but inventory is up 6%. These are volatile numbers considering the still anemic level of homes for sale and could swing in the opposite direction with the implementation of lower interest rates- putting upward pressure on prices, which are already up 5.7% year-over-year. If interest rates stay in the mid to high sixes or go even higher, expect inventory to increase and the absorption rate to lessen. BUT, if that happens, my crystal ball tells me that it won't be significant enough to truly change the dynamics of the real estate market we've all been experiencing here in metro Detroit since the pandemic. DOM refers to days-on-market. On a side note, notice the delta between the median price vs. the median price of new listings, which has been dropping for the last 5 weeks. This may be an indication of peoples' confidence levels with the market.   

The Midwest and Northeast have some of the lowest inventory levels relative to the rest of the country. What you hear about the housing market through national media outlets is likely not a valid representation of what's happening here. That's why it's always best to consult with your trusted advisor.  If you have any questions about the data provided, contact me, and I will be happy to explain further.