Novi real estate Fall 2020 – Coronavirus update

I wanted to give you a quick update on homes for sale in Novi and the local real estate market.  At the beginning of the year when the coronavirus hit I don’t think anybody knew what the coronavirus was going to do to the Novi real estate market.  When they did the shutdown it did affect the community and the real estate market hard.  Many realtors had nothing to do but collect unemployment as many people did not wish to list their homes or go look at homes.

Most people did not want to make a real estate move because they were unsure of how Covid would affect their jobs, their income, and their lifestyle.  Luckily Governor Whitmer came back around and opened up the real estate industry.   The pent up demand by buyers drove a very strong Novi real estate market.  Between the low inventory (some sellers did not want people in their homes during Covid) and the low interest rates it made a strong real estate market.

I believe that the lower priced homes will be a strong market for years to come.  It doesn’t matter whether it is a Novi home for sale or any home in Metro Detroit under $300,000 I believe the market will be strong.  My reasoning is…they are no longer building many homes in the under $300,000 range.  Yes there are condos being built that inexpensively but no single family residential homes.  The cost of acquiring and developing land is much higher than years ago.  Add in the higher cost of materials and most of the homes being built have a starting price of $350,000 or higher.  Then you have to put in decks, patios, sod, sprinklers, and shrubs.  It is hard for a builder to build a low priced home.  The market would be there but there is no profit margin for the builders.  So I believe that for the next few years we will continue to see a strong market for lower priced homes in Novi.

This year when Governor Whitmer opened real estate on May 7th we got off to a slow start.  By the second and third week buyers came out of the woodwork ready to buy.  We saw many multiple offer situations.  We saw many homes that went from $5,000 to over $20,000 the list price.  I recently was trying to help a buyer find a home.  We were out bid by $60,000 on a house that was listed at $180,000.  It sold for $240,000.  That was unusual for anything to go that high.  But it was very common for homes to sell in the first few days and well over list.  It was a good year to be a seller.

For a buyer it was tough.  Especially if you were a buyer that was trying to be smart and not way over bid.  Buyers that were looking at shorter term occupancies of 5 to 7 years were especially hard hit.  They didn’t want to over pay and then be upside down when it came to selling.  Many people believe we are going to have a down turn in real estate sometime in the future because we have had a strong bull real estate market for so long.

Zillow says The typical home value of homes in Novi is $349,391. This value is seasonally adjusted and only includes the middle price tier of homes. Novi home values have gone up 4.4% over the past year and Zillow predicts they will rise 6.7% in the next year.

So over all the Novi real estate market is very strong even into the late fall which is unusual for Metro Detroit.  Usually we slow down about this time and home prices tend to drop in the late fall and winter.  So far we have not seen that.   There are some lakefront homes for sale in Novi once in a while in Island Lake subdivision.  Feel free to call me anytime about Novi homes for sale.  (248)310-6239  Russ Ravary your metro Detroit realtor.