“Southwest Michigan’s housing market sales in May 2026 experienced a nice uptick that will hopefully bring a good peak selling season this summer. While the sales improved for May, they were down from May 2025. Homebuyers found the average selling price to be 6 percent higher and the median selling price 1 percent lower than in May 2025,” stated Luke Jeffries, Association Executive, Southwestern Michigan Association of REALTORS ® , Inc.
Jeffries continued, “The number of houses sold in May fell 3 percent to 252 from 261 in May 2025. Year-to-date, the number of houses sold decreased 11 percent (898 vs. 1011).”
The inventory of houses for sale increased 1 percent over what was available a year ago (961 vs. 950). At the end of May, there was a 6.0-months supply of houses. This level still needs to be higher for buyers searching for listings for sale across Allegan, Berrien, Cass, and the westerly two-thirds of Van Buren counties. For comparison, in May 2010, there were 3602 houses for sale.
In May 2026, the average selling price rose 6 percent to $406,458 from $385,028 in May 2025. Year-to-date, the average selling price increased 7 percent ($399,030 vs. $373,899). The May average selling price was the highest in the year-over-year comparison looking back to 2006.
The median selling price in May 2026 dipped 1 percent to $311,000 from $313,225 in May 2025. Year-to-date, the median selling price decreased 6 percent to $285,000 from $301,710 in May 2025.
The median price is the price at which 50% of the homes sold were above that price and 50% were below.
The Freddie Mac mortgage rate in May was 6.48, up from 6.37 in April for a 30-year conventional mortgage.
The increase in the number of house sales in May raised the total dollar volume slightly higher than it was a year ago ($102,427,625 vs. $101,858,629). The year-to-date total dollar volume dropped 13 percent ($358,329,701 vs. $414,086,980).
The number of bank-owned or foreclosed homes as a percentage of all transactions was 2 percent (4 houses). The previous low percentage was 1 percent (2 houses) in May 2024, and the highest percentage in May was 34 percent in 2009.
Nationally:
Existing-home sales increased by 3.2% month-over-month and year-over-year, according to the National Association of REALTORS ® Existing-Home Sales report. The report provides the real estate ecosystem—including agents, homebuyers, and sellers—with data on the level of home sales, price, and inventory.
Month-over-month sales increased in the Northeast, Midwest, and South, and were unchanged in the West. Year-over-year sales rose in the Midwest, South, and West, and fell in the Northeast.
Total existing-home sales, which were completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops, increased 3.2% in total sales month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.17 million in May. Year-over-year, sales increased 3.2%.
“More Americans are on the move, with home sales rising to the highest level since December. This is great news for the housing market and the economy,” said NAR Chief Economist Dr. Lawrence Yun. “Improving affordability is helping drive this momentum. Even with mortgage rates ticking up compared to earlier in the year, they remain lower than a year ago and are
essentially at the long-term historical average. Income gains are also outpacing home price growth by a small margin in most parts of the country.”
“The new record-high May home price reflects solid fundamentals for homeowners and ongoing supply constraints,” Yun said. “Only 1% of all home sales involved a foreclosure or an underwater situation in which the sale price could not cover the outstanding mortgage balance. This shows that homeowners are on solid financial footing.”
“Increased home sales mean more economic activity — lawn care, furniture purchases, moving services, mortgage originations and other related business activities all get a boost,” Yun added.
The median existing-home price for all housing types in May was $429,300, up 1.3% from one year ago ($423,700)—the 35th consecutive month of year-over-year price increases.
In the Midwest, existing-home sales increased 6.4% month-over-month to an annual rate of 1.0 million. Up 2.0% year-over-year. The median price in the Midwest was $336,300, up 2.8% from May 2025.
First-time buyers were responsible for 35% of sales in May, up from 33% in April and up from 30% in May 2025.
Individual investors or second-home buyers, who make up many cash sales, purchased 14% of homes in May, down from 16% in April and 17% in May 2025.
Cash sales accounted for 25% of transactions in May, unchanged from last month and down from 27% in April 2026.
The total housing inventory registered at the end of May was 1.55 million units, up 3.3% from April and up 0.6% from May 2025. At the end of May there was a 4.5-month supply of unsold inventory, unchanged from last month and down slightly from 4.6 months one year ago.
