Lansing area home sales expected to slow, but prices likely to rise

By Realestates News On Sep 27, 2024

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LANSING — Priced at $255,000, a Roundtop Road home with vaulted ceilings, hardwood floors and an address within the Grand Ledge Public Schools district hosted a busy open house on Sunday.

Realtor Laura Guild warned that serious lookers should drop their highest and best offers, because the house was likely to be sold fast.

Patrick and Pat St. George, a retired couple now living in a Delta Township condominium, refused to get in a bidding war. They aren’t ready yet, having just started looking for a new home, one where they said they can “age in place.” Their wish list: A home that at minimum has a laundry on the first floor, good accessibility features and a price point within their range.

Patrick, 81, and Pat, 79, are hopeful since they feel more fortunate financially than young professionals starting out and paying off years of student loan debt.

“Everybody says the economy sucks and that the interest rates are too high and it’s the worst time in the world to sell your house. The flip side is offers are going in just bam, bam, bam,” Patrick said.

The St. Georges may have to look longer than they expect to get a home with those features. Then again, they may not.

The residential real estate market in Greater Lansing is expected to have slightly more homes sold at modestly higher prices than 2023, although what the Federal Reserve does with interest rates could alter the difference, experts said.

Regardless, don’t expect a return to the skyrocketing housing prices seen in 2020 and 2021 when interest rates briefly dropped below 3%, the lowest in many years.

About 85% of mortgage holders are locked into sub-5% interest rates, which kept many homeowners from selling their home and buying another at interest rates that peaked at 7.8% the week ending Oct. 26 and fell to an average of 6.6% by Dec. 28, according to Freddie Mac.

A Realtors.com forecast calls for a 1.2% increase in home sales across the Greater Lansing region, with prices expected to rise by 6.2% compared to 2023 prices.

“The higher rates affect the home buying power and there’s a housing shortage,” said Doug Petroff, president of the Greater Lansing Association of Realtors. “When there’s an egg shortage, the price of eggs goes up. Same with housing, except it’s more expensive. We have a lack of inventory in the local area.”

Average home sale prices continue to rise

Average home sales prices in Greater Lansing rose 4.6% last year, according to figures from Rooted Real Estate of Greater Lansing. Those numbers include home sales in Eaton, Ingham and Clinton counties and Portland.

Every major community except for Mason saw increases in average home values, led by Bath, where average home prices rose almost 20% in a year from $249,157 to $298,700. Bath Township is one of the fastest growing parts of the Greater Lansing area, second only to Okemos.