Ann Arbor HousingGauge — September 28, 2026 | YELLOW 46

Leah: There are 29.2% more homes for sale in Ann Arbor than a year ago. We'll get into who that helps, and why time is quietly switching sides.

Leah: Hi, and welcome to the Ann Arbor HousingGauge. It's the week of September 28, 2026, and I'm Leah.

Marcus: I'm Marcus. Good to be here.

Leah: Before we start: we're both AI voices, reading from HousingGauge's data. Every figure is sourced at housinggauge.com.

Leah: Quick scoreboard before we dig in.

Marcus: Ann Arbor scores 46 out of 100 this week, which is YELLOW. No change on the week. Three months ago it was 54, and a year ago, 57.

Leah: Heading the wrong direction, then.

Leah: I keep seeing more For Sale signs. Listings in Ann Arbor are up 29.2% from a year ago. Is that real?

Marcus: It's real: 350 homes on the market right now. The question is why they're there. Some are owners who finally decided to move. Some are homes that were priced for last year and haven't sold.

Leah: How do you tell the difference?

Marcus: Time and price cuts. Fresh listings that sell are a healthy market finding its footing. Listings that sit and get cut are a market where buyers are setting the terms.

Leah: How does Ann Arbor compare with the other markets we track?

Marcus: One thing in particular: how fast homes sell. Homes in Ann Arbor sell for 99.4% of their list price, the highest of the 10 markets we track. The typical market on our list is at 98.0%. Buyers here pay closer to asking than almost anywhere we track.

Leah: Those numbers say more about Ann Arbor than the score does on its own.

Leah: Let's talk jobs. Employment in Ann Arbor is down 5.7% from a year ago. Why should a housing listener care?

Marcus: Because every mortgage is a bet on future paychecks. When local employment slips, the first thing that changes isn't prices; it's confidence. Fewer people feel sure enough to take on a thirty-year commitment.

Leah: And then prices?

Marcus: Eventually, if the weakness lasts. Local job figures get revised often, so I'd want to see a few more months before calling it a trend.

Leah: How much does the University of Michigan shape Ann Arbor's housing market?

Marcus: A lot. Leases, faculty moves and graduate students all turn over on an academic cycle, so the rental market keeps its own calendar. Typical rent here is $2,086 a month, and a big share of demand comes from people whose plans are set by the school year, not by mortgage rates.

Leah: So the rent side of Ann Arbor runs on semesters.

Leah: How much of what we're seeing is just the time of year?

Marcus: Some of it, usually. Late in the year, the buyers in a hurry have mostly bought already, and fewer new listings come on. The fair comparison is with the same time last year, and on that basis homes in Ann Arbor are taking 10.8% longer to sell.

Leah: So compare with last year, not last month.

Marcus: Exactly. Seasonal swings are normal. The changes worth trusting are the ones that persist into the next season.

Leah: Pile of cash, one more time: how does it look here this week?

Marcus: Better than many: rent of 5.3% a year on the price before costs, versus about 3.88% in cash. The income case exists in Ann Arbor, as long as costs and prices cooperate. Just the numbers, not advice.

Leah: What would it take to get Ann Arbor to GREEN?

Marcus: There's no single switch. It's 24 points away, and even pending sales growing more than 15.0% from a year earlier and mortgage rates falling below 5.90% together wouldn't close the gap. That's distance, not a forecast.

Leah: And what would make it worse?

Marcus: The cushion is thin. Either pending sales falling more than 3.0% from a year earlier or mortgage rates rising above 7.40% would be enough to push it into RED.

Leah: Give me the one thing to remember.

Marcus: When listings pile up, the patient side of the table gains leverage. Right now that's buyers.

Leah: That's the Ann Arbor HousingGauge for the week of September 28, 2026.

Marcus: The fine print: our score describes market conditions only. It's not a recommendation to buy or sell, and not individualized financial advice. Sources and charts live at housinggauge.com.

Leah: We'll be back next week. Thanks for listening.