Twin Cities Real Estate Market Inventory Up, Sales Down

According to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors, pending sales in the Twin Cities area were down 35.6% compared to last October. Additionally, closed sales were down 40.7% for the same period.

The dramatic yearover-year changes is due to last years' tax credit. When compared to 2008 year-to-date figures, there has a less dramatic 3.7% decline in pendings and 3.9% decline in closings. The $170,000 median sales price was just 0.6% higher than last year.

Listing activity was down 8.4% overall. Traditional sellers (nonforeclosure and non-short sale) were down 16.3%. Foreclosure listings were up 14.7% and short sale listings were up 0.3%. All segments showed a decrease in pending sales activity.

October’s price gain wasn’t reflected equally across the Twin Cities real estate market. Traditional sellers say a 10.8% averace price increase to $215,000. Foreclosure prices dropped 2.5% to $115,000 and short sale prices were up 3.4% to $155,000.

It is a buyers' market out there! October results show the fourth consecutive month of declining original list prices. After a drop of 4.6% to 90.3%, the last time this metric was so low was in April 2009.

There are currently 8.2 months supply of inventory for the entire Twin Cities market. Inventory grew 10.6% since October 2009 to 25,706 units. Traditional homes averaged 132 days on the market before they were sold, foreclosures 1128, and short sales averaged 220 days.

“While there have been modest rays of hope in recent economic news, it has not been enough to infuse energy into the realty market,” said MAAR President-Elect, Pat Paulson. “It will be interesting to watch strategies that new leadership in Washington adopts to address housing uncertainties.”

You can read the original MAAR press release about October's home sale figures. MPR also has some good commentary on the results.