The residential real estate market may be steadying, according to the latest sales statistics from Aspire North. Sales last month were largely in line with those from February 2023 in terms of both prices and the number of sales. There were 130 homes sold in the five-county area last month for a total of $60,005,477, an average of $461,580. For February 2023, those numbers were 127 sales totaling $60,259,338, producing an average sale price of $474,482.

Grand Traverse and Kalkaska Counties were the only two counties to post more sales than last year, yet both were down in terms of the average price. So too were Leelanau and Benzie, while the average sale price jumped by more than $80,000 in Antrim County. The number of homes sold in the five counties has steadily declined since hitting a high of 176 in February 2020, though prices continued to escalate until this year, topping out in February 2023.

The number of days a home was on the market has also started to swing. It averaged 85 in February 2022 and 86 last year, but the 103 days average for last month was more in line with 2021 and prior years. Increasing mortgage rates and a continued tight inventory of homes for sale are pushing things in opposite directions, potentially accounting at least in part for the leveling off of sales.