Grand Rapids Michigan Mortgage Rates and Real Estate Overview

During the 20th century, Michigan’s second city, Grand Rapids, earned the nickname “Furniture City USA” for being a furniture manufacturing hotbed. Although the city no longer has the same hold on the market, five of the world’s largest office furniture manufacturing companies still reside in the city, including Steelcase, which employs over 3,000 workers. Car and aviation manufacturing has also played a large role in Grand Rapids’ history and GE Aviation continues to reside in the city. After the collapse of the housing bubble several years ago, Grand Rapids’ housing market is witnessing something of a resurgence. Hedge funds and institutional investors from overseas are buying up properties in the city and reselling them at a higher price, having fixed them up. This phenomenon, known as “flipping,” is driving up home values in selective neighborhoods. One neighborhood that’s always had a reputation for high prices is East Grand Rapids, a suburb adjacent to Reeds Lake. Once a popular leisure destination, the neighborhood is still one of the nicest parts of the city, featuring expensive lakeshore mansions (house prices to match) and good public schools. The median home sales price here is $269,500 (up by 12.8 percent since last year) and the average listing price is $586,904. East Grand Rapids is less diverse than other parts of the city but features a variety of homes for all types of buyers. Despite the expense of parts of the city, the median home sales price for Grand Rapids as a whole is still a relatively low $114,000. Interest rates on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage currently range from 4.48 to 4.67 percent, resulting in monthly payments on an average Grand Rapids property of between $455 and $469. If you’re looking for an affordable, suburban-style home, Plainfield, Northview and Forest Hills are decent neighborhoods with some of the best school districts in the city. Grandville, located in the southwest of Grand Rapids and home to the biggest shopping mall in the city, RiverTown Crossings, is another nice suburb. In most of these neighborhoods you get a lot of space for what you pay. Despite its fame, Grand Rapids has never been a large city and its population has been fairly stable for the last 50 years, currently at 188,000. Fortunately, its metropolitan area is a lot bigger at just over 1 million so you shouldn’t get bored in Grand Rapids. It has all the charm of a small town and all the variety of a large urban area.