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Here is list of recent articles related to our Housing Market.
Real estate’s last five years most bizarre in industry history, REALTORS® president says
Fannie Mae tosses life raft to homeowners
Twin Cities again lead U.S. in house price decline
Twin Cities home prices are back in the basement
Twin Cities leads nationwide home price declines
Supply of unsold US homes shrinks in hardest hit markets as investors find bargain prices
New Listings for the week ending April 16 were down 21.5 percent from the same week in 2010 to 1,846 properties. That's a smaller decline than the 3-month average, which is down 26.4 percent. It appears that year-over-year declines in listing activity peaked around the end of March when motivated sellers were eager for buyers to consider their properties during the run-up to the end of last year's tax credit deadline.
Pending Sales, too, predictably fell short of April 2010's credit-inspired five-year high-water mark. The 898 purchase agreements signed were 18.6 percent fewer than last year. That's on-par with the 17.6 percent 3-month average decline. Purchase demand is currently the highest it's been since the week ending May 8, 2010. Sales activity in 2010 peaked during the week that ended April 25 and then fell sharply, so we can expect a very different story in two weeks.
The winner is still inventory, which plunged by 15.4 percent from the same week in 2010. It's worth noting that the number of active listings for sale ballooned at this time last year as sellers moved to take advantage of the increased buying activity. Notwithstanding, we haven't seen declines of this magnitude in nearly 15 months. It's a trend that will mean fewer options for buyers as well as improved market balance.
For the week ending April 9, sellers introduced 1,770 New Listings to the Twin Cities housing market. That's down an even 30.0 percent from the same week in 2010 when motivated sellers rightfully decided it was time to sell.
Current buyer activity simply cannot compete with an elevated 2010 incentive market. Pending Sales were down 22.7 percent from the same week last year to 838 contracts written. Drawing from a wider time frame can soften the theatrical plunge. Buyer activity was down 16.7 percent on average over the past three months. Comparing non-incentive markets to non-incentive markets also tells a more realistic story. Buyer activity was down only 2.3 percent compared to the same week in 2008.
The gap between this year's and last year's Active Listings for Sale has been growing for 10 straight weeks. There is also a pattern with year-over-year inventory levels, which are down 14.7 percent from 2010, 12.3 percent from 2009 and 28.3 percent from 2008. Those shopping for a home now have 22,869 options or about 27 active listings per purchase agreement signed for the week.
Here is list of recent articles related to our Housing Market.
Local Home Inventory Shrinks, Sales Down 17.6%
Median sales price for Twin Cities homes drops to $140,000
Twin Cities home prices down 15 percent; 4 in 10 sales are foreclosures
Foreclosure accounted for 43 percent of Twin Cities home sales in March
Twins Cities pending home sales drop 17.6% in March
Housing still can't find a date for economic recovery dance
Senators say down-payment requirement not their intent for finance law
Mike Hoffman, a REALTOR® at Coldwell Banker Burnet's Edina Regional Office, was honored as the 2010 Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS® (MAAR) REALTOR® of the Year on March 16 in recognition of his commitment to MAAR, the community and values of organized real estate.
This award is MAAR's way of showing appreciation to members for their volunteerism in the association as well as any involvement at the Minnesota Association of REALTORS® (MNAR) and the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) and the community as a whole.
Mike has more than 30 years of experience as a REALTOR®, has served on the MAAR Board of Directors and instructs the Ethics portion for new member orientation. He has served as President of MNAR and on their Finance Committee, Nominating Committee and Governmental Affairs Committee. He also instructs at the University of St. Thomas Management Center for Business Excellence and coaches small business owners. The list goes on and on.
"Mike is certainly deserving of this recognition" says Cari Linn, 2011 MAAR President-Elect, "Commitment and caring both describe Mike's extraordinary leadership and involvement within the REALTOR® community."
The REALTOR® of the Year recipient is allotted a $1,000 charitable gift. Mike has chosen Fairview Behavioral Health Services to be the recipient in an effort to renovate the children and adolescent behavioral health units to create an environment of healing and hope. "I feel very good that this money is in the right place," said Hoffman.
The prestigious REALTOR® of the Year award was presented at MAAR's REALTOR® Recognition event. Five additional awards were distributed to members that are also doing positive things at MAAR and in the Twin Cities community, including the following:
Community Involvement Awards – Cheryl Eastbourne, Mary Thorpe-Mease, Dave Philp
President's Award – Nobu Hata
Exceptional Service Award – Eric Kodner
Pending sales in the 13-county Twin Cities metropolitan area decreased 17.6 percent from March 2010 to 4,162 purchase agreements signed. Sellers introduced 6,977 new properties to the market, which was 30.2 percent fewer than the year prior. Inventory levels shrunk by 4.5 percent to 24,112 units—the lowest March inventory count since 2005. This trend will help stabilize prices and restore balance to the market.
Market conditions were particularly strong at this time last year due to the 2010 tax credit, making 2009 and 2008 more reliable comparison years. Pending sales were down a less dramatic 5.6 percent from March 2009 and they were actually up 14.6 percent over March 2008. Closed sales were down 3.5 percent from March 2010 but were up 2.7 percent over March 2009 and up 17.4 percent over March 2008.
Market activity can vary greatly from one segment to the next. Although overall purchase activity was down 17.6 percent, the foreclosure segment saw a 31.3 percent jump in pending sales and a 29.9 percent jump in closed sales. Foreclosure prices decreased 11.0 percent to $105,000; short sale prices decreased 6.9 percent to $134,950; and traditional prices decreased 3.5 percent to $192,000. While the bargain status of lender-mediated homes unquestionably helped their popularity surge among consumers, that same popularity pushed overall prices down 15.2 percent to $140,000.
Proper home pricing and conditioning are the key items in the seller’s survival kit. The average days on market was 152 days, an increase of 17.8 percent. Negotiations unsurprisingly favored buyers as the percent of list price received at sale declined to 88.6. The months of inventory supply grew slightly to 7.7 months. That is up 16.9 percent from last March but mostly flat from last month.
Daylight hours may be increasing but contrary to seasonal norms, the number of homes for sale continues to remain about the same. There are now 22,449 active listings in the Twin Cities, 14.4 percent fewer than last year. Nine consecutive weeks of year-over-year inventory decline bring a number of implications—mostly good, some not so good.
On the good side, sellers have fewer properties to compete with. This should quicken market times and increase seller leverage at the closing table. Improving demand with unchanging supply has the tendency to lift prices. On the not-so-good side, buyers have fewer options than in recent years. In light of skyrocketing affordability, historically low interest rates, foreclosure bargains, favorable negotiations and low prices, buyers are still proving to be either very patient, highly cost-conscious or both. Even so, purchase demand has more or less kept pace with non-incentivized 2009 levels.
New Listings decreased for the 14th consecutive week, dropping 19.2 percent to 1,738 properties. Pending Sales hit their highest weekly total this year but still trail last year's pace, down 25.1 percent year-over-year to 840 purchase agreements signed.
