Grand Rapids area home prices keep falling
It's the mantra of the real estate industry, posted on yard signs everywhere: It's a great time to buy.
If you are in a financial position to do so, statistics continue to show the mantra is true.
The average home price in the Grand Rapids area last month was $147,148, a drop of 6.5 percent from September 2006. The average price year to date -- $152,742 -- represents a 4.4 percent drop from this time last year.
Part of that reduction is attributed to the laws of supply and demand.
While there are 8.5 percent more listings than this time last year, residential sales last month were down 6.7 percent from September 2006.
Jamie Starner, president of the Grand Rapids Association of Realtors, said he would like to see more sales, but a drop in the number of listings joining the market was promising.
Nearly 11,700 residential properties were on the market last month. Based on overall sales figures, that equates to more than a year's supply of homes for sale.
But the number of listings entering the market in September was more than 10 percent lower than last September.
"We've got to burn off some of that inventory that we have," Starner said. "We've got to get back to a balanced market."
Pat Vredevoogd, a real estate agent and president of the National Association of Realtors, believes the market is turning.
"I see this in a number of marketplaces, where that number of new listings is stagnating a little bit now, and the number of homes being put on the market is quieting down," she said. "We're also seeing quite a few more people out in the marketplace."
The market is taking its toll on real estate agents.
Membership in the association is down 9 percent from a year ago. And agents say they are working harder for the same or less money.
The decrease in the sale price means a decrease in my paycheck, because it's all based on commission," said Ethan , an agent with A local Realty Company. "I sold about six more units last year than I did in '05 and made the same amount of money."
But as a real estate investor, Ethan also is reaping the benefits of the lower prices. He bought four homes this year to add to his stock of rental houses. They included a property next door to one he already owned.
"I paid less for a neighboring house than my wife and I paid five years ago for the house next door," he said.
The average sale price also is affected by the prices of homes being sold. Sixty percent of homes sold last month were priced for less than $140,000. Last September, it was 54 percent.
Twenty-two percent of homes sold were priced between $140,000 and $200,000, and 18 percent were more than that, including three priced at more than $1 million.
