Sales of residential real estate have slowed from last year, continuing a downward trend since hitting record marks in the wake of the pandemic. There were 210 homes sold in the five-county region in July, compared with 237 in July 2023. That’s following 299 in 2022, 314 in 2021, and the all-time July record of 411 in 2020. Sales in Grand Traverse County followed a similar path, coming in at 113 this past month, 129 in July 2023, 161 in both 2022 and 2021, and a high for the month in July 2020, with 216.

How much is due to interest rates remaining higher than in years past and how much to a lack of homes for sale is difficult to determine. A report by Logan Mohtashami of Housing Wire pointed out that nationally the peak number of homes for sale this year is the second-lowest on record. Only last year was worse.

Due at least in part to the low inventory, prices continue to escalate. The average price of a home sold in Grand Traverse County set another high record last month, at $554,907, just topping last July’s then-record of $550,162. The average sale price in Leelanau was nearly $1,000,000, coming in at $935,494, also a record high. The average sale price in Antrim County actually posted the largest gain, at $765,518, from $466,234 in July 2023.

There were 26 homes sold at $1,000,000 or more in both July 2024 and 2023, 20 between $750,000 and $1,000,000 both years, and 33 between $500,000 and $750,000 last month, compared with 44 in that price range in July 2023.