TRAVERSE CITY — Home sales in the five-county area dipped in May from a year ago but sale prices remain at historic highs for the region.
The monthly single-family home sales report for May from Aspire North Realtors based in Traverse City showed 212 homes were sold across Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Benzie, Antrim and Kalkaska counties last month. That’s a drop of almost 13.5% from the 245 homes sold in May 2024 in the five-county region.
Total regional home sales for the first five months of the year stand at 836 properties, down nearly 6% from last year’s totals and the second-lowest sales volume over the past 10 years. The lowest was 804 home sales recorded in 2023.
But home sale prices for the area continue to surge, with a record May average sales price of $578,601 last month, a 5.7% increase from a year ago.
Average home sale prices in the five-county area have escalated more than 130% in the past decade, up from an average of $230,416 in 2015. The median — or midpoint — sales price reached $428,000 last month, also a record for May and up less than 1% from last year. Median home prices shot up more than 120% over the past decade.
Home sale prices across the five counties ranged from a high of $4.2 million for the month, down to $3,200. Properties averaged about 81 days on the market, ranging from a high of 103 days in Leelanau County to 60 days in Kalkaska.
Aspire North also reported a significant boost in home sales in Wexford and Missaukee in May compared to last year. The counties combined for 60 home sales last month — 50 of those in Wexford County. That’s up almost 58% from the 38 homes sold in May 2024.
The average home sale price in the two counties came in at $287,919 up 5% from a year ago, while the median sale price of $258,500 was down less than 1% from May 2024.