| For over 10 years now, sellers have savored a short-inventory market replete with bidding wars and consistently rising property values, while buyers have scrambled over each other to to get a toehold in home ownership.
Guess what? That equation appears to be shifting in 2025.
Here's what we are seeing after 8 months of activity this year:
- Property appreciation is flattening out.
- As of 8-31-25, the average home sale here in West MI stood at $388,027, up just 1.0% over the $384,206 mark the same time last year.
- Listing inventory is up across the board for residential, multi-family and vacant land.
- Unit sales of homes, multi-family units and vacant land are up 14.4% YTD over 2024, too, with 939 more closed sales than this time in 2024. (Credit pent-up demand for this stat.)
- While buyers are gobbling up the extra new inventory, they are being very, very picky while doing so.
- Too-high mortgage interest rates have burned out many buyers, who are being extra careful before committing to interest rates over 6.75%.
- Full-price offers no longer are de rigueur, and appraisal gap guarantees are becoming a relic of the past.
- As buyers balk at what they see as unreasonable listing prices, it's getting tougher for sellers to drive a hard bargain. Price reductions are more and more common to see.
- Buyers are negotiating concessions during the inspection period, too, rather than taking homes "as-is" or simply not raising a fuss.
- Overall, market inventory is still thin - just a 1.4 month supply - but the balance of power in transactions seems to be swinging toward buyers.
- Fall and winter are coming, too, seasons that traditionally have belonged to buyers.
- Buyers aren't shy in asking sellers to pay their buyer agent's fee in the offers they write. The request usually is for 2.0% to 3.0% of sales price.
Many sellers are trying to resist the handwriting on the wall by holding firm on list prices, saying they are not in a "rush-rush" to sell. While that may be true for some, buyers have time on their side and are playing the waiting game, too. It's no longer a one-sided affair.
For sellers, now is the time to price your home right on the dot, trimming away any fat or fluff, for the strongest possible market reaction. Move-in ready condition inside and out becomes critical, too, for reducing buyer objections.
Do those two things well, sellers, and you probably can still list, sell and move before the holidays. If you can't, be aware we are quickly heading into the tail-end of the year where demand diminishes except for the most seriously motivated buyers.
- Bob Novosad/Broker
Thinking of buying or selling? If you are, give me a call or drop me a note. I’ll help you maneuver in this ever-changing market.
Barb Glashouwer
barb@novosadrealty.com
616.307.1114
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