“We were getting an influx of people from other places (because) Michigan is so cheap in comparison - for $1 million here, what you can get is amazing,” she said. Pratt said COVID-19 kicked off a trend of buyers from places like New York, California and Chicago snapping up homes sight-unseen. Other buyers are “sitting on” huge homes and wanting to downsize but not seeing enough options on the market for where to go next, she added. “A few have noted that the market seems brisk in the upper tier, so now, based on their life situation, it’s a good time to sell,” she said. Her clients who have put their homes on the market this year have usually cited personal circumstances such as retiring or becoming empty-nesters, Pratt said. “I could sell $1 million-plus homes that are turnkey dialed-in every day of the week, probably before they even hit the market, but there’s just not enough,” she said. Pratt said from what she’s observed at the high end of the market, buyers are still paying cash and therefore aren’t as affected by higher interest rates. Brenda Pratt, a luxury real estate broker with Keller Williams GR North, represented the seller of this turnkey property in East Grand Rapids, which sold for $2.35 million on May 31. Redfin attributed the drop in new listings to homeowners waiting for interest rates to go down before selling. dropped 15% year-over-year to an all-time low in June, the biggest annual decline in nearly two years, while new listings fell 30.6% from a year earlier, the lowest level since April 2020. The total number of homes for sale in the U.S. Pratt said although she personally hasn’t noticed a slowdown in high-dollar deals, she echoed Gentry’s theory that the overall market trend likely is due to lower inventory this year.Īccording to a Redfin report posted July 17 and based on June data, there’s currently less than a month’s worth of inventory in the U.S. She has brokered five home sales of more than $1 million in the first half of this year compared to three during the same period last year, three in the first half 2021 and five in 2020. “‘Life is short, and I’m going to buy what I’m going to buy.’”īrenda Pratt, a designated luxury real estate agent with Plainfield Township-based Keller Williams GR North, brokers homes in Kent County and along the lakeshore, including recent sales in South Haven, Zeeland, White Lake, Montague and Whitehall. “A client told me over the weekend, ‘YOLO.’ You only live once,” she said. She said the West Michigan high-end homes market heated up during the pandemic in 2020 when people with disposable income realized the timing was great to invest in real estate, and it’s “not stopped” since. Gentry believes low supply, rather than a lack of demand, is probably the main factor driving the drop in luxury home sales this year. Credit: The Sandi Gentry Team, Re/Max Lakeshore The view of Lake Michigan from a Spring Lake home that sold for nearly $4.5 million on May 31, the highest-priced home sale in West Michigan so far this year. She said clients typically cite the economy and a gut feeling that it’s a good time to buy. “We have maintained a remarkable (first half of the) year, higher than we were last year,” Gentry said. So far this year, the office has closed 13 luxury home deals, which compares to 11 in the same period last year. Gentry said fewer sales may be happening on average this year, but her office at Grand Haven-based The Sandi Gentry Team of Re/Max Lakeshore, is doing even better in 2023 than last year. Sandi Gentry represented both the buyer and seller of the Spring Lake Township home. The ultra-private custom residence was built in 2014 and features five bedrooms, seven baths and more than 9,000 square feet of living space. Last year, the highest priced sale was an East Grand Rapids home that went for $4.25 million on March 1, 2022. Credit: Kyle Visser Team, Keller Williams GR East This newer East Grand Rapids home sold for $4.25 million on March 1, 2022. The home has 115 feet of Lake Michigan beach frontage, soaring ceilings, large, light-filled rooms and a vast back deck entertaining oasis. The highest-priced sale so far this year was an 8,262-square-foot, four-bedroom, five-bath waterfront estate in Spring Lake Township that sold for nearly $4.5 million on May 31. Keep up with all things West Michigan business.
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