The weather in January played a significant role in the local residential real estate market, according to the monthly scorecard from the Southwest Michigan Association of Realtors.
“The snowy weather throughout January posed numerous challenges in SWMI, including dampening the housing market. The number of houses sold in January fell to 135 houses, the lowest level since 2015. The year started with a 14% drop in inventory of houses for sale, record setting selling prices, and a small reduction in the mortgage rate,” stated Luke Jeffries, Association Executive, Southwestern Michigan Association of REALTORS®, Inc.
Jeffries continued, “In January 2026, the market ended with an inventory of 614 houses for sale, down from 715 houses for sale in January 2025. Homebuyers in Allegan, Berrien, Cass, and the westerly 2/3 of Van Buren counties were facing a 3.7-months supply of homes, down slightly from the 3.9 supply level in January 2025.”
The Freddie Mac mortgage rate in January was 6.10, down slightly from the December rate of 6.15, and down from the 6.95 rate in January 2025 for a 30-year conventional mortgage.
The number of houses sold in January 2026 decreased 22 percent from that sold in January 2025 (135 vs. 173).
The average selling price in January 2026 changed by less than 1 percent to $418,285 from $416,393 in January 2025. The January 2026 average selling price was 15 percent lower than the $492,373 price in December 2025.
The January 2026 median selling price rose 1 percent ($270,000 vs. $267,000). The median selling price in December 2025 was $295,000.
The median price is the price at which 50% of the homes sold were above that price and 50% were below.
The total dollar volume with fewer sales fell 22 percent to $56,468,522 from $72,036,007 in January 2025.
There were two bank-owned or foreclosed homes as a percentage of all transactions in January, or 1 percent of the closed transactions. The highest percentage in January was 57 percent in 2009.
