Rising interest rates haven’t seemed to dampen sales, as residential real estate prices continue to soar to record highs. Sales for August showed record high prices in four of the five counties served by Aspire North Realtors. Only Kalkaska showed a downturn, with an average sale price of $250,141 last month, compared to $269,478 in August of 2022. Even so, its median price of $250,000 topped the 2022 figure of $239,000.

Of the other four counties, Antrim posted the largest gain, with an average sale price of $474,778 compared to $409,454 for August last year. Overall, the average price of $529,985 on sales of $153,165,909 topped last August’s $499,199 for $155,250,962. The 289 homes sold last month are the fewest for any August dating back to 2012, the lack of housing inventory continuing to be a factor limiting home sales and pushing prices higher. The average number of days a home is on the market reflects that; last month’s 66 is in line with the figures from 2022 (65) and 2021 (63). Previous DOM for the month all topped 100.

Sales of high-end homes continue to increase as well. Last month saw 97 sales of homes priced at $500,000 or higher, versus 92 last year and 81 in 2021. There were 27 sales of $1,000,000 or more in August 2023, 25 in August 2022 and 18 in August 2021.