Sliding inventory leads to fewer Detroit home sales

Moving activity in Detroit and surrounding counties has been fading for three straight months.

There were 4,222 home sales in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties in September, a 15.4 percent drop from 4,990 a year earlier, reported the Detroit News, citing data from Realcomp II. That capped off three straight months with double-digit percentage decreases in home sales, said the report. Families were moving into homes that cost 5.4 percent more in September than they did a year earlier.

The report noted that slower moving activity may be the result of decreasing home inventory. There was a total of 28,241 homes and condos for sale in Metro Detroit last month, 17.5 percent fewer than the 34,213 in September 2009. Additionally, more families may be finding the financial confidence to afford moving into a market-rate home. Foreclosure sales fell 31.6 percent while non-foreclosure sales rose 4 percent year-over-year.

That's an especially positive sign, since national foreclosure issues could complicate foreclosure sales moving forward.

The city may be on the rebound somewhat after posting modest gains in employment. Metro Detroit was one of the areas to post the largest jobless rate decreases over the past year, with unemployment dropping 1.5 percentage points in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
 

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