Real Estate Experts Discuss Michigan Home Sales, Noting 'We Have Hit Bottom'

The mood was upbeat Thursday morning as area experts discussed the state of Birmingham and Bloomfield Township's real estate market at a forum held by the .

On the panel was Brian Henry, commercial services counsel for eTitle Agency and a member of the Bloomfield Township Board of Zoning Appeals, and Robert Pliska, managing director for Sperry Van Ness, a commercial real estate advising firm.

The forum was part of the chamber’s 2011 forecast series, which included the March 10 and April 21 .

According to Plisaka and Henry, who spoke to a room of real estate agents at the over breakfast, the market is still tough, but it looks like it's getting better.

During the past few years of the economic downturn, the real estate industry has been hit hard — perhaps even harder than the auto industry, Pliska said. In 2007, the industry enjoyed a boom year, with $550 billion in sales. In 2009, those sales dropped to $50 billion.

Michigan, including the normally stable Birmingham and Bloomfield market, was no exception. Henry referenced a report released this year by CoreLogic, an analytics firm, that showed Michigan’s home prices depreciating 11 percent since last year, the fourth-worst drop in the nation behind Idaho, Arizona and Florida.

In addition, Henry said Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson is anticipating a 7 percent decrease in the county home values this year.

Pliska said so much of southeast Michigan’s real estate market is tied to the auto industry, which is both a curse and blessing. “Yes, it’s great to have the auto industry … but if things go down, we have this cycle to worry about.”

However, according to Dan Minkus, a lawyer at Birmingham’s office, he and his firm are still bullish in the Birmingham and Bloomfield area and believe real estate values will improve.

“We’re starting to see the normalcy come back,” he said.

And despite the dour past few years, Pliska and Henry agreed that things are getting better. In 2010, the national profit margins started going back up again and ended up doubling 2009’s sales.

“We have hit bottom,” Pliska said. “Luckily, it looks like we’re going up."

That notion of a “bottom” was repeated by Henry and in questions submitted by the audience. After chamber President Joe Bauman asked whether residential property values had bottomed out, Henry said there’s a lot that goes into figuring out where the “bottom” is.

“I think we’re probably not going to see the bottom until sometime next year,” he said. “But depending on who you talk to, we have hit bottom.”

However, just as the housing crisis wasn’t about people who borrowed too much or banks that didn’t care, Henry said one shouldn’t jump to too many conclusions about any sudden upturns. “It’s important not to paint any aspect of this with a broad brush.”

Both speakers agreed that Birmingham and Bloomfield Township continue to perform very well in the real estate market, defying national averages. “There’s activity happening here. There’s activity happening in Birmingham,” Pliska said, noting that he just closed on a property sale in Birmingham the day before.

According to Henry, Birmingham and Bloomfield Township residents will continue to make sure their hometowns are desirable places to live.

“This is the place to be,” Henry said. “It’s like (the) Alamo — it’s worth fighting for.”