Manchester School District real estate — a year in review

Real estate for sale sign. Photo credit: Ian Muttoo, CC BY-SA 2.0/Wikimedia commons.

submitted by Jeff Roth, Arbor Advising

What Were the Trends Through the End of Last Year for Single-Family Homes in the Manchester School District? New listings were down for the year. Pending sales were down. Closed sales were down. Days on market were up. Median sales prices were down. Keep in mind, the data set is smaller compared to a community like Ann Arbor so more fluctuations will be seen in the trends depending on the number and type of properties sold that year or month.

New listings of single-family homes were down 9.1% with 9 fewer properties for sale last year in the Manchester School District compared to the year prior according to the latest released sales data from the Ann Arbor Area Board of Realtors for Dec 2025. Pending sales were down 19.8% in 2025 with 16 fewer pending. Closed sales were down 6.7% with 5 fewer closed transactions last year. Days on market were up 17.5% from the previous year with single-family homes selling, on average, in 47 days compared to 40 days a year ago.

Finally, the median sales price of a single-family home was $349,900 at the end of last year which was down 6.7% for the year.

What was the Trend at the end of Last Year in the Month of December? New listings were up. Pending sales were down. Closed sales were up. Days on market were down. Median sales prices were up. Basically, the market was picking up.

The end of last year saw the market picking up with 6 new listings (up 20%) from December of last year, pending sales were down by just one from last December with 5 pending sales, closed sales were up one to 11 closed sales, days on market were down to 29 days (down 54%) from the previous December, and median sales prices were up to $415,000 or up 28.7% from this time a year ago. We will see if this trend continues but interest rates will have an impact.

How did Interest Rates Change Through Last Year? Interest rates were down nearly a full percentage point at the end of last year according to Freddie Mac data. Interest rates trending down definitely helped the housing market.

There was clear momentum in market activity at the end of last year compared to the beginning of the year. Lower interest rates allow buyers to afford more house for the same payment and for sellers to have more qualified buyers.

What to Expect in 2026? While looking into the crystal ball is always risky, it is fair to say that if interest rates stay where they currently are, which is the historic average, we can expect sales activity to continue to be strong in the new year. Clearly, there is demand for housing in the Manchester School District despite rates and we expect that to continue.

Bottom Line For Real Estate in the Manchester School District Over the Last Year: new listings were up, pending sales were down, closed sales were down, days on market up, and median sales price down. Lower interest rates helped the upward trend we saw at the end of last year. This could be the year more people decide to make a move.

To your success!

Jeff Roth is the founder of Arbor Advising, a local real estate consultancy located in Dexter. Arbor Advising helps clients buy, sell, and invest in Ann Arbor area real estate. Visit https://www.arboradvising.com/ for more information. 

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and a founder of the Manchester Mirror.