By By ANDY HAMILTON / Niles Daily Star
NILES – Niles is not experiencing the same housing market woes seen in other parts of the state and nationwide.
Niles realtors report unusually high January home sales here, which most attribute to the month's mild temperatures.
According to www.realtor.org, the Web site of the National Association of Realtors, unusual winter weather and the suffering sub-prime mortgage lending market is making it hard to predict the housing market conditions for the remainder of 2007. However, the group said a recovery is likely in the coming months, but also predicted about 60,000 fewer existing-homes would sell this year than in 2006.
Donna Palmer of Coldwell Banker Real Estate Specialists and Mark Skene of ReMax Modern Realty, both in Niles, said their offices were busy most of January and the second half of February. The two attributed the lull in February to cold, snowy weather.
"Our experience was January was phenomenal the first three weeks, slowed a little bit after the bad weather and started to pick up again," Skene said.
Palmer added, "Probably the first two weeks in February was real slow but after that it started picking up again. Everyone in my office has been very busy."
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial average plummeted 240 points, a drop attributed to the high delinquency rate of sub-prime mortgage borrowers.
Sub-prime mortgage lenders are those who provide loans to people with poor credit histories.
That's one national trend that is tracking in Niles, Palmer said, noting the growing number of repossessed homes here.
"I think that has a lot to do with people buying houses with no money down, too. And some people just don't have a sense of pride for homeownership, and if they don't have money in it they go, 'what the heck,'" Palmer said.
Much of the trouble with the housing market near Detroit has been attributed to the loss of jobs connected to the auto industry. Skene said he doesn't expect that to hit Niles.
Rather, he said because of its location the Niles area is a prime spot for buying a home. Being right on the U.S. 31 bypass and near the Indiana border are both pluses, he said.
"I think more Indiana buyers are looking just over the edge where it's not as … densely populated," Skene said. "Pricing and property averages are our single two best strengths."
Data on the Web site for the Southwestern Michigan Association of Realtors, www.swmar.org, showed February 2006 as the month when the least amount of residential homes sold in the Niles, Brandywine, Buchanan and Galien school districts – 38. The highest sale month was August, when 75 residential units were reported sold.
The National Association of Realtors stated 6.42 million existing-home sales are projected to sell this year, and 6.66 million in 2008. There were 6.48 million existing homes sold last year.
New-home sales are forecast at 950,000 in 2007 and 981,000 next year, down from 1.06 million in 2006.