2020 has been a year of incredible ups and downs for the northern Michigan real estate market. In a year marked with uncertainty, of shrinking inventory, plummeting interest rates, and one of the most competitive seller’s markets most of us can remember, the numbers for (most of) 2020 are here.
Let’s take a look at the overall performance of our market and a breakdown of the numbers by county.
How Did The Real Estate Market Perform in 2020? Surprisingly Well.
You’d think with a global pandemic, economic uncertainty civil unrest in many places in the country, and a presidential election cycle that has been anything but smooth that home buying and selling would be slow as people wait to see what is going to happen in the world. If you thought that, you’d be wrong.
The total number of homes sold in Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Antrim, and Benzie Counties is down slightly for the year, (a projected 3,041 single-family homes compared to 2019’s total of 3,107), but the projected average sale price for the year is through the roof compared to where it was last year; $374,522.92 compared to 2019’s $317,839.74. Here’s how the market faired.
The average list-to-sale ratio (a reflection of how close a property’s final sold price was to it’s listing price) was up this year too; 97.114%, compared to last year’s 96.302%. While this seems like a small increase, moving nearly a percentage point on a typical sale price of almost $400k is jumping up almost $4,000; not a paltry sum.
Here is a breakdown of the performance of our four-county region for this and the previous three years:
Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Antrim, Benzie County Combined Performance
| Year | Total Sales | Total Listed Volume | Total Sold Volume | List-to-Sale Ratio | Median Days on Market | Average Sale Price |
|
2020 |
3,041* |
$1,166,308,92* |
$1,138,783,761* |
97.114%* |
78 |
$374,522.92* |
| 2019 |
3,107 |
$1,019,794,495 |
$987,528,058 |
96.302% |
73 |
$317,839.74 |
|
2018 |
2,820 |
$858,367,684 |
$828,895,127 |
95.935% |
78 |
$293,934.44 |
| 2017 | 3,013 | $899,689,808 | $866,938,019 | 95.760% |
79 |
$287,732.50 |
*Based on December 2020 projections
Grand Traverse County 2020 Performance: 2nd Half Demand Tells the Tale
The second half of the year was one of outrageous demand for homes, very low mortgage rates, and inventory that didn’t come close to meeting the needs of the buying community. We saw this story play out in the number of homes being sold – down to a projected 1,663 from
a 2019 mark of 1805 – but with a major increase in the list-to-sale ratios in certain months, including 99.552% in the month of November 2020.
We also saw very short days on market, hitting as low as 51 in June 2020 (an incredibly short window when you figure that a mortgage process is going to take the bulk of that time – many of these homes were under contract in days if not hours).
Here’s a breakdown of the performance of Grand Traverse County in 2020:
| Transactions | Listed Volume | Sold Volume | L2S Ratio | Med DOM | |
| January | 108 | $ 31,661,424 | $ 30,447,094 | 96.165% | 70 |
| February | 91 | $ 27,277,365 | $ 26,641,072 | 97.667% | 87 |
| March | 126 | $ 35,960,082 | $ 35,195,506 | 97.874% | 126 |
| April | 87 | $ 27,992,800 | $ 27,130,361 | 96.919% | 56 |
| May | 65 | $ 19,228,049 | $ 18,748,970 | 97.508% | 61 |
| June | 141 | $ 43,500,399 | $ 42,717,644 | 98.201% | 51 |
| July | 221 | $ 79,046,149 | $ 77,585,006 | 98.152% | 54 |
| August | 176 | $ 66,835,936 | $ 65,416,884 | 97.877% | 58 |
| September | 197 | $ 67,248,832 | $ 66,542,120 | 98.949% | 56 |
| October | 195 | $ 69,988,127 | $ 69,343,543 | 99.079% | 55 |
| November | 163 | $ 65,640,906 | $ 64,690,276 | 98.552% | 54 |
| December | 93* | $ 40,202,993* | $ 39,936,913* | 99.338% | 51 |
| 2020 Total | 1663 | $ 574,583,062 | $ 564,395,389 | 98.023% | 65 |
| 2019 Totals | 1805 | $ 553,418,217 | $ 540,085,396 | 97.591% | 63 |
| 2018 Totals | 1640 | $ 472,584,131 | $ 460,244,093 | 97.389% | 62 |
| 2017 Totals | 1639 | $ 467,829,463 | $ 454,871,662 | 97.230% | 66 |
*Based on December 2020 projections
Leelanau County 2020 Performance: Sold Volume Tripled from June to July
Those of us who live and work in northern Michigan know that there is a season to just about everything we do. Many of us in the real estate industry use the window from Memorial Day to Labor Day as our markers for when we should expect to be busy, but not this year.
Thanks to all the complications from COVID-19, the typical calendar has been thrown completely out of whack. In fact, February 2020, when it is typically the coldest and most inhospitable in northern Michigan, saw 32 properties sold for a total of more than 10.5 million dollars, and that was nearly double what we saw in May, the supposed kickoff to the season.
But, things bounced back in a major way. Once we were able to start actively showing homes again, activity exploded. In the month of July 2020, there was nearly 43 million dollars in total volume for sold property, more than triple the month before.
Here is a breakdown of the numbers for Leelanau County in 2020:
| Transactions | Listed Volume | Sold Volume | L2S Ratio | Med DOM | |
| January | 17 | $5,805,700 | $5,591,834 | 96.316% | 116 |
| February | 32 | $11,318,200 | $10,588,639 | 93.554% | 110 |
| March | 34 | $14,040,495 | $13,087,996 | 93.216% | 100 |
| April | 23 | $9,866,250 | $9,271,450 | 93.971% | 69 |
| May | 13 | $6,001,400 | $5,800,000 | 96.644% | 120 |
| June | 34 | $14,206,400 | $14,272,975 | 100.469% | 63 |
| July | 71 | $44,028,500 | $42,822,100 | 97.260% | 58 |
| August | 69 | $41,138,999 | $40,166,047 | 97.635% | 75 |
| September | 85 | $45,484,400 | $44,106,750 | 96.971% | 74 |
| October | 80 | $43,237,320 | $42,728,920 | 98.824% | 67 |
| November | 51 | $27,993,400 | $27,381,882 | 97.815% | 81 |
| December | 42.625* | $25,959,400* | $25,435,500* | 97.982% | 97 |
| Total | 551.625 | $289,080,464 | $281,254,093 | 96.722% | 86 |
| 2019 Totals | 481 | $228,533,475 | $220,026,597 | 96.278% | 77 |
| 2018 Totals | 435 | $188,351,483 | $180,561,488 | 95.864% | 77 |
| 2017 Totals | 497 | $210,299,711 | $201,612,739 | 95.869% | 76 |
*Based on December 2020 projections
Antrim County 2020 Performance: Endless Summer Sales
Like we said before, a lot of markets (usually including ours) will slow down after Labor Day, especially as the leaves start to change. We’ve definitely seen that NOT be the case this year across our region, but that trend is amplified in Antrim County. This year, we saw the typical bump in sales when the summer season kicked off, but that bump continued well into the fall. In fact, there was more volume in the month of October 2020 ($36.56 million) than there was in July 2020 ($23.2 million).
This market was remarkably stable this year, despite all the challenges thrown at it.
Here’s a breakdown of the rest of the numbers for Antrim County in 2020:
| Transactions | Listed Volume | Sold Volume | L2S Ratio | Med DOM | |
| January | 20 | $5,858,599 | $5,622,100 | 95.963% | 127 |
| February | 21 | $4,676,250 | $4,447,000 | 95.098% | 121 |
| March | 22 | $7,758,500 | $7,421,500 | 95.656% | 133 |
| April | 20 | $3,865,900 | $3,785,750 | 97.927% | 68 |
| May | 15 | $3,554,200 | $3,384,200 | 95.217% | 64 |
| June | 32 | $13,713,280 | $13,419,881 | 97.860% | 65 |
| July | 66 | $24,030,000 | $23,206,800 | 96.574% | 73 |
| August | 66 | $21,682,200 | $20,788,175 | 95.877% | 76 |
| September | 66 | $25,917,500 | $25,365,753 | 97.871% | 94 |
| October | 60 | $38,275,100 | $36,564,095 | 95.530% | 59 |
| November | 46 | $20,802,400 | $19,675,217 | 94.581% | 77 |
| December | 15.5* | $7,629,875* | $7,602,750* | 56 | |
| Total | 449.5 | $177,763,804 | $171,283,221 | 96.483% | 84 |
| 2019 Totals | 458 | $140,571,605 | $134,068,489 | 95.374% | 82 |
| 2018 Totals | 391 | $108,773,548 | $103,858,356 | 95.481% | 94 |
| 2017 Totals | 472 | $124,151,621 | $118,073,892 | 95.105% | 95 |
*Based on December 2020 projections
Benzie County – Steady As She Goes
Benzie County was a steady performer in the year 2020. The overall number of transactions was up (a projected 377 over 2019’s 363 and over 2018’s 254) and the volume of sales is up a projected $28.5 million dollars in 2020.
The only real blip on the Benzie County radar was the performance of April 2020; what we’d consider to be the perfect example of a 2020 held breath. There were only 14 sales that month, list-to-sale ratio was near 100% (indicating that the people who were moving at this time felt like it was very important that they got the house, so they made aggressive offers), and it took more than double the typical time to close a deal.
But, the county pushed past this hiccup and continued on to have a great year.
Here’s a breakdown of the rest of the numbers for Benzie County in 2020:
| Transactions | Listed Volume | Sold Volume | L2S Ratio | Med DOM | |
| January | 23 | $4,377,000 | $4,262,400 | 97.382% | 60 |
| February | 13 | $4,384,200 | $4,078,900 | 93.036% | 129 |
| March | 20 | $4,979,750 | $4,848,763 | 97.370% | 60 |
| April | 14 | $4,285,700 | $4,265,788 | 99.535% | 132 |
| May | 22 | $5,298,000 | $5,240,785 | 98.920% | 67 |
| June | 26 | $8,645,700 | $8,319,250 | 96.224% | 61 |
| July | 34 | $12,443,900 | $12,056,800 | 96.889% | 57 |
| August | 42 | $16,275,100 | $16,097,400 | 98.908% | 75 |
| September | 55 | $14,192,210 | $13,836,000 | 97.490% | 70 |
| October | 55 | $18,943,700 | $18,461,000 | 97.452% | 65 |
| November | 26 | $8,543,743 | $8,063,585 | 94.380% | 84 |
| December | 46.5* | $22,512,588* | $22,320,388* | 99.146% | 72 |
| Total | 376.5 | $124,881,591 | $121,851,059 | 97.228% | 78 |
| 2019 Totals | 363 | $97,271,198 | $93,347,576 | 95.966% | 71 |
| 2018 Totals | 354 | $88,658,522 | $84,231,190 | 95.006% | 78 |
| 2017 Totals | 405 | $97,409,013 | $92,379,726 | 94.837% | 80 |
*Based on December 2020 projections
Bringing It All Together
With everything 2020 has thrown at us, it’s hard to imagine we would have arrived at the end of the year with a market in as good a shape as we’re seeing now, yet, here we are. 2021 is sure to be a year of industrious recovery, of an economy putting itself back together, and hopefully, of local market prosperity for our real estate community and for our neighborhood businesses. If you have questions about buying or selling real estate in 2021 or beyond, the Brick & Corbett Team would love to help.
