See what Rick has to share with his two cents and take a look at area statistics.
My Two Cents
Don’t be alarmed. You may have heard rumblings that there has been a huge increase of foreclosure filings in America. Over 25,000 U.S. properties experienced some type of filing or default notifications last month, which is up over 10% from the previous month and up over 125% from a year ago.
This is not an indication of a housing weakness problem or some economic disaster unfolding, it’s merely the gradual return to normal levels of foreclosure activity after two years of artificially low numbers. During the pandemic, the government and housing industry efforts to protect financially impacted homeowners from defaulting, led to some controls and measures to give impacted homeowners time to get back on their feet. After a couple extensions to allow affected homeowners extra time, the program recently expired.
Therefore, you may begin to see more bank-owned properties in our local markets over the next several months, but it should be rather short lived, and they will be rather normal numbers, averaging pre-pandemic levels. In all due fairness, the numbers should be comparable to pre-2008 levels. Processing a foreclosure property from the beginning to prepare it for an open market purchase can be a lengthy legal procedure. Additionally, they sometimes land regionally in bundles from many different sources. Michigan ranked as one of the few states with decreased foreclosure activity in February, but that may be an indication of increased activity in March or April.
Therefore, buyers should not let their expectations increase thinking they’ll grab a low-priced foreclosure to end their housing search. Also, sellers shouldn’t fear that the market will get flooded with foreclosure competition. The housing market will carry-on as it has been with a slight increase of foreclosure activity over the next 6-8 months.
2022 Statistics Year-To-Date
Average Sale Prices Year-To-Date Through February 2022
| School District | Average Sale Price YTD / Final 2021 |
| Forest Hills | $535,786 / $503,893 |
| Rockford | $445,221 / $389,329 |
| Caledonia | $357,395 / $393,991 |
| Lowell | $337,682 / $348,377 |
| Entire MLS | $268,735 / $268,982 |
| Belding | $245,125 / $212,680 |
| Saranac | $238,840 / $254,552 |
| Lakewood | $209,385 / $203,636 |
*MLS is Multiple Listing Service. Coverage area includes all of Kent and Ionia Counties, northern Barry County (inclusive of Gun Lake) and southeastern Ottawa County. Statistics courtesy of GRAR (Greater Regional Alliance of Realtors).
This table shows the 2022 Year-to-Date Average Sale Prices compared to the Average Sale prices for the entire year of 2021. It’s still very early in the year, so the averages can get a bit skewed with a smaller sampling of sales. In another month or two we should begin to formulate better statistical trends. Forest Hills, Rockford and Belding School Districts are well ahead of their 2021 averages. Caledonia, Lowell and Saranac are slightly behind their 2021 pace. In comparison, the Entire MLS is nearly identical in both years. We will watch these numbers closely as we enter the upcoming spring market.
Average Sale Prices by Surrounding Township Through February 28, 2022 (3-Month Rolling Average)
| Location/School District | Average Sale Price YTD |
| Ada Township | $662,791 |
| Cascade Township | $521,082 |
| Vergennes Township | $370,675 |
| Bowne Township | $358,378 |
| Lowell Township | $320,346 |
| Grattan Township | $312,857 |
| Boston Township | $295,729 |
| Entire MLS | $268,735 |
| Keene Township | $132,478 |
Statistics courtesy of GRAR (Greater Regional Alliance of Realtors)
Here are the early Average Sale Prices by Surrounding Townships for 2022. The Lowell School District takes up a portion of each of these townships, except Vergennes and Lowell Townships, where the entire townships are encompassed by the Lowell School District. There are no surprises on this list. I would expect Grattan Township to increase as we enter the coming waterfront market.
Market Inventory As of February 28, 2022
| Location
School District |
Homes Currently
for Sale |
Months of Supply for February 2022 | New Listings
Feb 2021 vs Feb 2022 |
| Entire MLS – GRAR* | 2,443 | .8 | 2,340 2,164 |
| Rockford | 33 | .5 | 49 29 |
| Forest Hills | 27 | .4 | 55 40 |
| Caledonia | 25 | .7 | 27 28 |
| Lowell | 14 | .6 | 19 23 |
| Belding | 8 | .6 | 8 12 |
| Saranac | 6 | .9 | 6 4 |
| Lakewood | 4 | .4 | 9 5 |
*MLS is Multiple Listing Service. Coverage area includes all of Kent and Ionia Counties, northern Barry County (inclusive of Gun Lake) and southeastern Ottawa County. Statistics courtesy of GRAR (Greater Regional Alliance of Realtors).
“Months of Supply” refers to the number of months it would take for the current inventory of homes on the market to sell given the current sales pace. Historically, six months of supply is associated with moderate price appreciation, and a lower level of month’s supply tends to push prices up more rapidly.
2022 continues down a path of extremely low inventory choices for buyers. New listings are down in many markets, when comparing February 2022 and 2021. Months of Supply continues to be less than 1.0 with many of our markets hovering around .5 Months of Supply. The demand for homes continues to be strong, which keeps the Homes Currently for Sale very low. Winter is typically the slow season for New Listings and demand. However, the demand has continued at a steady clip, which has caused inventory to get smaller. The closer we get to the spring market; I expect additional new listings to help offset the demand.
Average Price Per Square Foot As of February 28, 2022 (3-Month Rolling Average)
| Location/School District | Average Price Per Sq. Ft. |
| Forest Hills | $186 |
| Rockford | $184 |
| Caledonia | $167 |
| Lowell | $162 |
| Entire MLS | $144 |
| Saranac | $135 |
| Belding | $124 |
| Lakewood | $124 |
Statistics courtesy of GRAR (Greater Regional Alliance of Realtors)
The Average Price Per Square Foot means the price per square foot in relation to the sale price.
There were large leaps with Average Price Per Square Foot in most of our focus area school districts. The Entire MLS increased only $1 from last month, but Lowell increased $6, Forest Hills increased $10, and Rockford increased $4. These numbers are also an indication of supply and demand. Average new home construction costs begin around $200+ per sq. ft. in West Michigan, but that does not necessarily include landscaping; the cost of the land or lot to build the new home; or the cost of improvements to the land, such as water/sewer hook-up, well, septic, driveway, electric, and gas. The above averages include existing homes and some new construction.
Pending Sales As of February 28, 2022
| Location
School District |
Pending Sales
Feb 2021 vs Feb 2022 |
| Entire MLS | 2,296 1,909 |
| Forest Hills | 45 36 |
| Rockford | 51 32 |
| Caledonia | 33 24 |
| Lowell | 13 23 |
| Belding | 7 11 |
| Lakewood | 12 6 |
| Saranac | 4 4 |
Statistics courtesy of GRAR (Greater Regional Alliance of Realtors)
Pending Sales are sales under contract with an accepted offer, but those transactions have not finalized yet (closed). Some of the above numbers could change daily, as some sales will terminate for various reasons, but new sales will be added. Winter seasonality usually causes less Pending Sales in January and February. Therefore, a fair comparison is the same month 2021 vs 2022. Pending Sales decreased within the Entire MLS and within most of our focus area school districts for the second consecutive month when comparing January 2021 and January 2022. The Lowell School District did experience a sizable increase in the same comparison. Some of these decreases are caused from the current low numbers of new listings. These numbers are important as a tool to forecast future closings and indicate recent activity. Most pending sales become finalized and closed within a three-to-six-week period, from the date it became pending.
Rick Seese works with buyers and sellers of residential, commercial, and industrial real estate. He is an Associate Broker with Greenridge Realty, Inc. and has been licensed full-time for over 40 years. If you’re interested in reaching out to Rick for more information, or have a question for the monthly article, you can contact him via email ([email protected]), visit his website at www.rickseese.com or Facebook page at (www.facebook.com/Rick Seese), or call/text him at 616-437-2576.
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