Milford Township, MI

With the end of June, 2011, it's time to look at the local real estate markets so far this year and maybe see what we see when we look ahead to the rest of this year.

I'm going to take this one market at a time and look at the markets in particular that I have multi-year data for, so that I can search for trends. Being based in Milford, that market is the first market that I'll take a look at in detail.

At the end of June, 2011, the bottom line numbers that I track looked like this:

List Price Sold Price % SEV SEV DOM Sq FT List Sold
S/L Multiple $/SF $/SF
Median - $224,500 $200,500 97% $110,365 1.6758 38 1,881 $85 $84

Average - $214,674 $204,822 97% $117,604 1.6190 113 2,423 $93 $89

In 2010 those same end of June stats looked this way:

List Price Sold Price % SEV SEV DOM Sq FT List Sold
S/L Multiple $/SF $/SF
Median - $179,900 $183,500 97% $ 94,750 1.6192 93 1,994 $86 $97

Average - $225,575 $217,100 96% $138,771 1.7009 139 2,454 $93 $91

Y-T-D for 2011 the numbers look like this:

List Price Sold Price % SEV SEV DOM Sq FT List Sold
S/L Multiple $/SF $/SF
Median - $197,000 $190,000 96% $110,370 1.6018 113 2,142 $86 $84

Average - $257,683 $239,026 95% $133,307 1.6327 190 2,454 $93 $89

To see all of the underlying data that I collect on a monthly basis, go to my webs site -
www.movetomilford.com and choose the link for What has sold in the Milford area.

Some things seem evident from the data. Home values have continued to fall in terms of the cost per Sq Ft. The assessed values are still higher in Milford than the market values (the SEV multiplier of sold value vs. SEV would be right at 2.0 is the assessed values and market values were in balance). Sellers continue to get reasonably close to asking price (once they get the price right). It's taking on average a 1/2 a year to sell.

So far I see no indication that we've really reached bottom yet. Prices are still dropping,albeit, not as fast anymore. Distressed sales - foreclosures and short sales - still make up about 50% of total sales inthe market in this are and almost at that level in Milford. Property values remain high in MIlford compared to some surrounding markets mainly because sellers have been bull-headed about lowering prices to markt levels; thus sales volume remains very low. The assessors seem to be a biot ahead right now with assessed values being lower than sales values (and one must assume appraised values).

There were 17 homes that sold for more than $20,000 in Milford, Michigan in April, 2011. Of those 35% were distressed sales – either foreclosures or short sales.

The Average Sale Price was $368,556 and the Median Sale Price was $240,000. Those figures (the Average was greatly influenced by one sale for $1,350,000)

In general, home sold for 1.9174 times their State Equalized Value, which is supposed to represent ½ of the assessed value.

Homes sold for an Average of $112/Sq Ft in April. On average the sales prices were 93% of the asking prices in Milford.

In 2010 the numbers were –

Average sale price - $146,832, and Median sale price - $144,450

In 2010 the average sale price was 1.2949 times the SEV and homes sold for an average of $83/Sq Ft

So, we’re making progress in Milford in getting out of the real estate market malaise. For all of the data on the Milford market, as well as 8 other surrounding markets, go to my Web site – http://www.movetomilford.com/ and click on the What has sold locally choice.

Here’s a chart from Altos Research which shows the trends for home sale median values and the inventory level in the Milford market.



You can see that late March and most of April were back into positive trends. Perhaps we've seen the inflection point for theis market and not even recognized it at the time.

Some hunters call them "Kensington Deer" because they probably spend at least part of their day in Kensington Metropark. Hunting isn't allowed in Kensington but for the past several years, they've been having sharp-shooters "cull" the herd sometime in February. I think one of the main characteristics of Kensington deer is that they are somewhat tame (used to seeing people) and I think that is why hunters like them.

I like them because I like most animals and love to have them visit my yard. Truth be told, I "bait" deer to get them to stop by. Now, because they found CWD (chronic wasting disease) in one deer from a private breeding facility in Kent County, I'm not going to be allowed to feed the deer this winter.

Why, I wonder, are private breeding facilities allowed in a state in which deer herds need to be culled yearly? Just asking.

Laura Degiovanni

The Home Buyer's Agent of Ann Arbor