Local Real Estate News

From The Skinny

Warming weather, affordability and approaching deadlines are activating the housing market. With less than 60 days left until the home buyer tax credit expires, buyers and sellers appear to be kicking it into a new gear. There were 1,715 new listings for the week ending February 27, an increase of 5.3 percent from a year ago and the fourth consecutive week of year-over-year increase. The $6,500 tax credit for move-up buyers appears to be stimulating some sellers to place their homes on the market in an attempt to sell them before the credit expires.

For the same reporting week, there were 868 accepted offers, which is a bump of 13.9 percent from a year ago. After several months of relatively flat home buying, the last two weeks have seen a jump as the credit deadline nears.

Days on Market continues to decrease, landing at 142 days in February. That was a 9.7 percent decrease from a year ago.

The Percent of Original Price Received at Sale stood at 92.3 percent in February, a 3.4 percent increase over the year prior.

Click here for the full Weekly Market Activity Report.

From The Skinny

Over the last three weeks, the number of new listings has grown at a stronger pace than we saw in 2009. For the week ending February 20, there were 1,833 new listings, an increase of 17.7 percent from a year ago. The recent uptick is likely a combination of the typical spring increase in activity coupled with the effects of the $6,500 tax credit available to move-up buyers. Consumers who have lived in their current residence for 5 of the last 8 years are eligible to receive the credit when they purchase a home before April 30.

Also for the week ending February 20, pending sales made a 9.9 percent year-over-year jump after staying even with last year for several consecutive weeks.

The Supply-Demand Ratio for March is 5.39, which means there are 5.39 homes available for each buyer. That's 6.9 percent below last year's number and is another indication of dwindling supply.

Click here for the full Weekly Market Activity Report.

From The Skinny

The Twin Cities housing market in early 2010 looks pretty much like it did in early 2009. How similar? Over the last three months, there have been 7,189 signed purchase agreements; there were 7,186 a year ago during the same time period. Eerie, no? Robotic precision.

For the week ending February 13, there were 711 pending sales, down 2.7 percent from last year, and new listings posted 1,764 units, up 4.9 percent from a year ago. The only thing that's really changed much is the supply of available homes, which continues to dwindle relative to a year ago. The current stock of 22,271 available homes represents a 12.4 percent decline from a year ago.

Click here for the full Weekly Market Activity Report.

From The Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON—U.S. home construction and industrial production both rose in January, government reports showed Wednesday, providing further evidence of the economy's gradual recovery.

Housing starts climbed 2.8% to a seasonally adjusted 591,000 annual rate compared with the prior month as builders recovered from a bout of bad weather, the Commerce Department said. However, new building permits dropped, a sign the housing sector is improving slowly.

Full Story: Wall Street Journal Online

From The Skinny

The Twin Cities housing market at the beginning of 2010 continues to look similar to the Twin Cities housing market at the beginning of 2009. There were 1,848 new listings for the week ending February 6, a 3.8 percent increase from the same week last year. On a similar track, there were 780 pending sales for the same week, 4.7 percent above last year.

With supply dropping—now at 5.5 months of availability—it may be that potential buyers are all too familiar with the inventory they have to choose from, especially in the lower price ranges where sales have been through the roof in the last year and inventory has dropped quickly.

Click here for the full Weekly Market Activity Report.

From The Skinny

We sent out a news release last week. Highlights are given below in top 10 format because a lot of fancy communications experts say that you're more likely to look at data when presented in a top ten list. David Letterman has built a career around this notion

1. After 41 consecutive months, the Twin Cities housing market finally posted a median sales price that was higher than the same month a year ago.
2. The January median sales price of $157,000 was a 1.3 percent increase from last January's mark of $155,000. That's the first year-over-year increase since July 2006.
3. The median sales price of traditional homes (excluding foreclosures and short sales) in January was $198,000, down 7.9 percent from a year ago.
4. Lender-mediated properties posted a January figure of $125,000, an increase of 3.3 percent from a year ago.
5. There were 2,736 signed purchase agreements in January, a dip of 3.2 percent from a year ago. That's the second consecutive month of year-over-year decline in pending sales, though the declines have been small to this point.
6. The Federal Home Buyer Tax Credit and extremely low mortgage rates have been the two main drivers of the market's recent momentum and, unfortunately, both of those market boosters may be near their eventual end.
7. The tax credit expires on April 30 and likely will not be extended.
8. The Federal Reserve intends to stop buying mortgage-backed securities in the near future, a move that will likely lead to an increase in mortgage rates.
9. Unless the end of the tax credit and actions by The Fed are effectively offset by other economic improvements, we can expect downward pressure on home sales in the months ahead.
10. A lot of progress has been made in the last year, but the recovery process isn't over.

VIEW FULL NEWS RELEASE

From The Skinny

As winter continues its streak of cold and snow, sales activity in the Twin Cities housing market is moving along at a pace you'd expect for the season and at about the same pace as a year ago. Pending sales for the week ending January 30 came in at 650, down very slightly from the mark of 673 seen during the same week last year. Over the last three months, there have been 7,038 signed purchase agreements, up a sliver-sized 0.7 percent from a year ago.

Despite the tax credit being made available to current homeowners, new listing activity has yet to show any noticeable jump. The 1,584 new listings for the most recent reporting week represent a dip of 3.1 percent from a year ago. Total inventory of available homes is still down from last year by 16.5 percent.

In related news, Days on Market Until Sale is still dropping while the Percent of Original List Price Received at Sale is still growing. While that's good news on both fronts for home sellers in general, different price points and neighborhoods are experiencing dramatically different market conditions.

Click here for the full Weekly Market Activity Report.

From The Skinny

The January 2010 Twin Cities housing market has shaped up to be nearly identical to January 2009.

• Pending sales are down slightly from a year ago, but not by much.
• New listings are down slightly from a year ago, but not much.
• Inventory is rising slowly, but not much.

After the roller coaster ride the local market has experienced over the last four years, perhaps "not by much" is a welcome respite.

• There were 558 signed purchase agreements for the week ending January 23, down 2.3 percent from a year ago.
• New listings posted 1,522 units, down 0.6 percent from a year ago.
• The current inventory of active listings is 20,629, down 17.5 percent from a year ago.

The February 2010 Supply-Demand Ratio sits at 6.99, which means there are 6.99 homes available for each buyer. That's a drop of 8.5 percent from a year ago and the lowest February mark since 2006.

Click here for the full Weekly Market Activity Report.

From The Skinny

The first full week of reporting for the Twin Cities housing market is in and while there are a few "green shoots," it's becoming clear so far that the market won't see the same spectacular growth in sales it saw at the beginning of 2009.

There were 520 pending sales for the week ending January 9, down 1.7 percent from the same week in 2009. That's the seventh week of the last nine to see fewer sales than the prior year, a time period that coincides closely with the initial expiration date of the first-time home buyer tax credit. However, we’re still 21.2 percent higher than the pace in 2008 for that period.

As you likely know, the credit's been expanded to include a $6,500 incentive for buyers who have owned a home for five years of the last eight. Since we can safely assume that many of these buyers will need to sell their home first before buying a new one and receiving the credit, we can look to our new listings numbers to see how much effect the new credit is having. So far, it doesn't appear to be much.

Over the last three months, the number of new listings has been 11.7 percent behind the same period one year prior. With many looking for continued "seedlings" of hope in the local housing market, this isn't welcome news. As always, we'll be keeping a close eye on things and reporting back what we see.

Click here for the full Weekly Market Activity Report.

From The Skinny

The January 2010 Housing Supply Outlook just hit the internetz. As usual, here's some quick takeaways on key market conditions.

5. Its a magic number. The last time there was only 5.0 months of supply or less in the Twin Cities housing market, the month was March of 2006. George Bush was president, Kanye West was known more for his talent than his eccentricities and the market was on the cusp of a 24-month slide in home sales and prices. Flash forward to January 2010, and we're back down to 5.0 months of supply.

The biggest drops in supply can be found the lower price ranges, where homes are selling quickly. For perspective, there's only 2.6 months of supply under $120,000, while there's 30.2 months of supply above $1 million.

Home prices are still soft across the board, but the largest declines in price in 2009 can be found in the condominium segment, where the average sales price for the year was 17.1 percent lower than in 2008.

Click here for the full Housing Supply Outlook.