June 26, 2021
Home sales for May increased in each of the five counties served by Aspire North (formerly the Traverse Area Association of Realtors, or TAAR) from the totals posted last May. The largest single pickup was in Grand Traverse County, where 134 homes sold last month for a total of $54,066,467, compared with May 2020 totals of 65 at $18,591,570. The total number of sales across the region – 267 – also more than doubled last year’s May total of 116, while the dollar volume of $111,074,623 dwarf’s last May’s $33,386,670.
Last year’s numbers were, of course, heavily impacted by the shutdown, which lasted from late March to early May. The totals from May 2019 are therefore perhaps a better example for comparison. In May 2019, there were a total of 309 sales, with Grand Traverse County recording 173, both of which topped the totals for last month. Even with fewer sales, however, this year’s dollar volume soared, increasing more than $18 million to $111,074,623 from $92,691,994 in May 2019.
Average sale prices increased accordingly, from $299,974 in May 2019 to $416,009 last month. The average sale price increased dramatically in each of the five counties from 2019 to 2021, by nearly $200,000 in Benzie County ($285,852 in 2019, $263,333 in 2020, $482,390 in 2021) and almost doubling in Kalkaska County ($140,404 in 2019, $190,816 in 2020, and $208,226 last month). The average days on market also attests to how hot the market is currently: last month it was 66, compared with 104 last May and 106 in May 2019.
