Sales of residential real estate in Leelanau show numbers going in opposite directions. The number of homes sold last month was down to 18 from 23 in February 2021. But the sales volume is up, to $16,196,225 from $12,604,120 last year. That means there is a huge disparity in the average sale price, as it jumped to $899,790 for February 2022 from $548,005 a year earlier. Those figures are all higher than their counterparts in Grand Traverse, Benzie, and Antrim Counties, the other counties served by Aspire North. They also reflect a similar trend, where every county save Antrim was down in the number of sales, while showing an increase in sales price, excepting Kalkaska County.

The shifts in the economy, with rising inflation and interest rates, along with the fears following the war in Ukraine and significantly higher energy costs, are seemingly being balanced by the continued scarcity of homes available for sale. Those also show up in the figures for the year to date, with 38 sales in the county for January and February this year, compared with 51 the year prior. One has to go back to 2018 to see a lower number of home sales. Yet the average price has never been higher, and the average number of days a home is on the market has never been lower, at 86.