Where has the Twin Cities real estate market been and where is it heading? This monthly summary provides an overview of current trends and projections for future activity.
Monday, December 15th, 2014
Trendsetters in economic analysis have lately been choosing comparative figures between the present and 2007 as the must-have items of the season. Comparing recent data on unemployment, spending habits and housing starts to the vintage days of 2007 are opening up the conversation of the economy’s future. Recovery is in style and may even continue as we dive headlong into the heart of the winter months.
In the Twin Cities region, for the week ending December 6:
- New Listings decreased 4.4% to 849
- Pending Sales increased 5.7% to 815
- Inventory decreased 0.9% to 14,806
For the month of November:
- Median Sales Price increased 5.1% to $205,000
- Days on Market increased 5.3% to 79
- Percent of Original List Price Received decreased 0.7% to 94.7%
- Months Supply of Inventory increased 8.8% to 3.7
All comparisons are to 2013
Click here for the full Weekly Market Activity Report. From The Skinny Blog.
Posted in Weekly Report
Monday, December 15th, 2014
The Twin Cities regional housing market continued to make strides toward recovery in November, even as some measures appear to show unfavorable movement. Pending sales, or the number of signed purchase agreements, fell 7.5 percent in November compared to last year. New listings decreased 12.8 percent. Inventory levels were nearly flat, down 1.0 percent to 14,948 homes.
The median sales price rose 5.1 percent to $205,000, marking 33 consecutive months of year-over-year median price gains. Price per square foot rose 3.4 percent to $120 while months supply of inventory increased 5.9 percent to 3.6. Days on market until sale rose 5.3 percent to 79.
As has reliably been the case for years, pending purchase activity of traditional homes rose even while the overall pending sales indicator declined, signaling the ongoing shift from distressed properties back to the once-again dominant traditional sector. That changing mix of sales activity has helped catalyze the nearly three straight years of price gains seen in the region.
Another factor boosting prices is newly constructed condominiums, particularly in downtown Minneapolis. There’s a building boom happening downtown, even after factoring out the construction and surrounding redevelopment of the new stadium for the Minnesota Vikings.
The median price of new construction condominium sales rose 65.2 percent in November to a new high of $366,242. Although that’s for the entire Twin Cities area, downtown new construction condos comprised about 30.0 percent of all similar units in the Twin Cities in November 2006 but made up about 60.0 percent of that segment in November 2014.
Despite the shiny marvel of new downtown development, the overall housing stock in the Twin Cities region remains quite affordable historically. The Twin Cities housing affordability index of 191 means that the median household income was 91 percent higher than the necessary income needed to qualify for the median-priced home under current interest rates.
In October, the Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that the Twin Cities had the lowest rate of unemployment among major metros in the nation at 3.2 percent. The national rate, at 5.8 percent, is the lowest since July 2008. With national private job creation reaching above 300,000 new payrolls in November, the overall jobs picture is bright.
Posted in The Skinny
Monday, December 8th, 2014
No good news goes unpunished. As the economy churned out more than 320,000 private jobs in November, some say the Federal Reserve is that much more likely to stick to the plan of raising rates by mid-2015. The truth is that the U.S. is on track for the strongest yearly job growth since 1999. That means more families are in a better position to buy a home, which is of course good news for housing. Let’s take a look at the local housing market.
In the Twin Cities region, for the week ending November 29:
- New Listings decreased 13.5% to 468
- Pending Sales decreased 8.3% to 539
- Inventory increased 0.5% to 15,557
For the month of November:
- Median Sales Price increased 5.1% to $205,000
- Days on Market increased 5.3% to 79
- Percent of Original List Price Received decreased 0.7% to 94.7%
- Months Supply of Inventory increased 5.9% to 3.6
All comparisons are to 2013
Click here for the full Weekly Market Activity Report. From The Skinny Blog.
Posted in Weekly Report
Monday, December 1st, 2014
Amidst frantic shopping for all the things between turkey and toys, the economy has made a surprising statement, offering big gains over the last six months not seen since mid-2003. As we head into the final stretch of the fourth quarter, mortgage rates remain fairly stable, with the 30-year fixed rate mortgage still hovering below 4 percent.
In the Twin Cities region, for the week ending November 22:
- New Listings decreased 3.5% to 862
- Pending Sales decreased 2.7% to 802
- Inventory increased 1.6% to 16,122
For the month of October:
- Median Sales Price increased 6.7% to $208,000
- Days on Market decreased 4.0% to 72
- Percent of Original List Price Received decreased 0.6% to 95.2%
- Months Supply of Inventory increased 13.5% to 4.2
All comparisons are to 2013
Click here for the full Weekly Market Activity Report. From The Skinny Blog.
Posted in Weekly Report