Foreclosures and short sales in the Twin Cities housing market.

Foreclosures and short sales in the Twin Cities Housing Market
Q4 2008 Update
A Special Research Report from the Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS
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January Twin Cities News Letter

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The Monthly Skinny - January 09

Weekly Market Activity Report

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Now is the winter of our discontent here in the Twin Cities. With temperatures remaining stubbornly arctic, there is a very real possibility that we'll stay below freezing for the entirety of January. After a steady rise for the first two weeks of 2009, the Twin Cities housing market is reflecting the cold, with new listings down by 18 percent when comparing the week ending January 17 to the same week last year. If new listings continue to taper off, the market's supply balance can handle it, as we are still tilted generously in favor of the buyer.

For the same time period comparison, pending sales are up 13.2 percent over last year, and January 2009 has steadily outperformed January 2008. Total active listings trail last year, down by at least 10.5 percent. An ideal situation would be for listings overall to hold steady and for pending sales to keep rising...hopefully bringing temperatures up as well.

5 Biggest Real Estate Myths

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Real Estate Round Table

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MAAR 2008 Year End Real Estate Statistics

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Weekly Market Activity Report

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There's much "change" in the air around the world today. And there is also change happening on the streets of the Twin Cities metro area, as the number of new listings appearing in our Weekly Market Activity Report takes its ascendant year-opening uptick. Despite the increase, new listings for the week ending January 10 have not quite matched the numbers seen at this time period last year (down 7.6 percent), and pending sales are riding a healthy clip above where they were last year (up 19.4 percent) as more homeowners pour back into the market after the year-end transition.

As a summation of how most of 2008 went, total active listings for the year finished down 10 percent from the year before. Time will tell if the flurry of optimism associated with today's presidential inauguration will work its way into the economy, the housing market and, specifically, the Twin Cities housing arena. Hope meets anxiety at the crossroads of 2009.

Real Estate Round Table

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Great letter from the President of Coldwell Banker Burnet to her Agents

Our Housing Market Offers Unprecedented Opportunities

by Robin Peterson, President


Happy New Year! It was good to see so many of you at our recent company event featuring real estate speaker Terry Watson.

I’m looking forward enthusiastically to this new year. We’re seeing a number of positive trends that bode well for the coming months. In their Jan. 14 news conference, the four Twin Cities REALTORS® associations reported that home sales improved in 2008 over the previous year. In the 13-county metropolitan area, there were a total of 44,067 pending sales, which was 1.2 percent higher than 2007. The last half of the year saw tremendous momentum—15.7 percent more pending sales than during the same time period in 2007.

This sales increase is primarily the result of the wonderful combination of low interest rates and increased affordability. Interest rates are now the best they’ve been in decades. As of mid-January, the following great rates were available: 30-year fixed-rate loans in the high 4 percent range and 15-year fixed-rate loans in the mid-to-low 4 percent range. In addition, the Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS® (MAAR) Housing Affordability Index, which looks at home prices, interest rates and consumer income, is now 192—the best it’s ever been since MAAR began tracking affordability in 1990.

This month, we’re also seeing a welcome moderation of the supply-demand ratio. The supply demand ratio is 8.36, or 8.36 houses for sale for every buyer. This is 19.7 percent lower than the 10.41 supply demand ratio posted in January 2007. But despite the lower number of houses for sale, there is still a great inventory of homes available, whether you’re a first-time buyer, move-up buyer, or looking for a luxury home.

The inventory is especially ideal for first-time home buyers. The four local REALTORS® associations reported that the median home price in our area has dropped to $195,00, a price that you would be hard pressed to find in many areas of the country. In our market, it’s amazing what you can get in an affordable $195,000 home. For that price, you can find single-family homes, condos and townhomes in all styles and in all communities with several bedrooms and baths, one or two-car garages, and plenty of room.

Another great benefit is the $7,500 home buyer tax credit that is included in the Federal Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. The legislation, however, currently stipulates that the tax credit is available only for first-time home buyers. REALTORS® groups such as the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) are lobbying Congress to offer this tax credit to all home buyers and to eliminate the repayment requirement. If NAR’s lobbying efforts are successful, this will be another positive development for consumers and for the real estate industry. But in the meantime, this is a great incentive to entice prospective first-time buyers to make an offer and to start enjoying the benefits of home ownership.

In addition, our company has worked hard to offer a number of creative marketing programs that benefit home buyers and sellers in this market. In September, we held a 10-Day Sales Event on 1,500 listed homes, which represented more than $46 million in price reductions. We were pleased with the results, which included increased showings, buyer traffic, and closed sales.

Recently, Coldwell Banker Burnet and Burnet Home Loans launched an Interest Rate Reduction Program to attract more buyers and to help our sellers’ properties stand out in the marketplace. Through this program, Burnet Home Loans loan officers are working with our sales associates to help their home sellers “buy down” the interest rate on prospective buyers’ mortgages. This gives them an attractive, below-market interest rate and offers them substantial savings over the life of the loan. In addition, it helps sellers sell their homes more quickly.

So it’s clear that our market offers unprecedented opportunities—Coldwell Banker Burnet’s Interest Rate Reduction Program, the $7,500 first-time home buyer tax credit, the lowest interest rates in decades, extremely affordable housing prices, and excellent inventory. I can’t imagine a better time to buy a home.

Best wishes for a productive and successful 2009!

Robin

2008 End Of Year Report - MAAR

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December Twin Cities Market Stats

Inventory and Days are market are really starting to go down. This is great news!!!

December Maple Grove Market Stats

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Weekly Market Activity Report

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The New Year rang in with the normal post-holiday increase in new listings, but listings are still down from the same week last year. Pending sales for the week ending January 3 showed a strong increase during the year-end transition, rising nearly 40 percent compared to last year. Over the last three months of the year, pending sales were 18 percent higher than last year. Local housing inventory has reached its annual low point but looks to rebound in the opening months of 2009.

This week's edition of the MAAR Weekly Market Activity Report features updated figures from several important metrics:

In December, Days on Market Until Sale dropped 6.3 percent compared to last year. The market appears to have reached a plateau in the amount of time needed to sell a house, and this welcome decline certainly could continue into the next year.
Percent of Original List Price Received at Sale closed at 90.0 in December, 1.3 percent lower than last year.
The new Housing Affordability Index (HAI) for January is extremely positive. Last month we stated that the HAI of 180 was the highest we had ever recorded. Now it's even higher, jumping an additional 12 points to 192. The rise reflects the help that interest rates and softer prices have given to the market. (Note: The decline in prices is driven by the significant amount of lender-mediated home sales and its benefit is not equal to all buyers.)

Coldwell Banker Burnet Introduces Three Mobile Information Services

Coldwell Banker Burnet Introduces Three Mobile Information Services That Give Home Buyers Convenient Access to Home-For-Sale Information

Coldwell Banker Burnet has launched three phases of a new mobile real estate information service that gives home buyers convenient access to local home-for-sale information using CellSigns’ Mobile Agent™ tools.

The Mobile Agent service enables home buyers to access property information in three ways:

Use their cell phones to perform a text message search of all homes on the market by property address, street name, MLS ID Number, neighborhood, and other criteria. (Text 353052 to 74362 or Text 4368 Vernon to 74362)
Use their cell phones in conjunction with Coldwell Banker Burnet’s exclusive Home InfoLine to electronically retrieve detailed property descriptions and photographs. Consumers call the Home InfoLine, key in a property ID number and receive property information on their cell phones. (Call 952.844.3000 or 888.844.3002 and enter 353052)
Access property information via an Internet site that has been formatted and optimized for cell phones. (Visit http://m.cbburnet.com and search by address, city, zip, or MLS ID.)
“The Internet and other technology tools have totally changed the way consumers search for real estate,” said Robin Peterson, president of Coldwell Banker Burnet. “Now the technology has gone totally mobile, eliminating the need for home buyers to be tied to their computer. We’re pleased to offer this new mobile service, which helps home buyers quickly and conveniently obtain property information on their cell phone from anywhere, 24/7.”

Mobile Agent also offers consumers the following features and benefits:

Information on comparable properties with similar prices and features.
Click-to-Call feature empowers consumers to instantly connect to their Coldwell Banker Burnet sales associate.
Activity tracking of all homes viewed, along with mapping of the properties. (After using the service, go to http://mymoag.com and log in using your cell phone number.)
Mobile Agent works on all cell phones without downloads or special phone browsers.
The popularity of text messaging has never been greater. Text messaging usage continues to increase by more than 150 percent year over year. As of June 2008, CTIA, the international association for the wireless telecommunications industry, estimated that more than 75 billion text messages were sent and received in the United States every month.

Rate Reduction Program

Weekly Market Activity Report 1/6/09

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As expected, all activity in the Twin Cities housing market basically flatlined during the week of the Christmas holiday, as consumers and REALTORS® alike took time away from buying and selling homes. For the week ending December 27, there were 550 new listings and 256 pending sales in the entire 13-county Twin Cities region, down 3.2 percent and up 8.9 percent, respectively, from the same week last year. The inventory of houses for sale declined by almost 2,000 units in the past week but should be boosted upwards again in the weeks ahead.

This edition of the MAAR Weekly Market Activity Report features an updated January 2009 figure for our Supply-Demand Ratio, which measures the number of houses for sale for each buyer. The January number is 8.36, which is a decline of 19.7 percent from last January's figure of 10.41. Falling supply and recent surges in demand brought about by plunging mortgage rates have reduced the amount of supply relative to demand in recent months.

NAR Urges Financial Regulators and Industry to Make Mortgages More Attainable

NAR Urges Financial Regulators and Industry to Make Mortgages More Attainable

Summary Reprinted Courtesy of RISMedia
The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) says that it applauds recent actions by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury that make mortgage interest rates more affordable. However, NAR officials said that further action is needed to help the thousands of people trying to buy a home or to stem off foreclosure to get a mortgage easily and quickly.

NAR President Charles McMillan said, “Our members tell us that families are once again looking to enter the housing market only to find that delays, process and bureaucracy are getting in the way. The federal government and the mortgage lending industry must address continuing problems that are impeding the delivery of mortgage credit to home buyers and those trying to avoid foreclosure.”

In a letter to the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and copied to President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team, NAR notes that in addition to lowering interest rates, the federal government must work with mortgage lenders and credit reporting agencies to eliminate processes that are making it difficult to close on a mortgage loan so that the housing market and the nation’s economy can have a robust recovery.

“Now really is a great time to buy a home. Inventory is high, prices are down and mortgage rates are near 50-year lows. We have to unclog the system and let people achieve and hold on to the dream of homeownership,” McMillan said.

NAR also is asking mortgage lenders and mortgage insurers to make sure they have not over-corrected their underwriting standards and added unnecessarily strict underwriting standards, such as excessively high credit scores to qualify for a mortgage. In addition, NAR said that credit reporting bureaus should improve compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act, including providing prompt responses to consumers who want to correct errors in their file.

NAR also is calling on all mortgage lenders, their servicers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and investors in mortgage assets to implement aggressive policies that result in more loan modifications to prevent as many foreclosures as possible, expedited processes for short-sales, and added liquidity to the nonconforming mortgage market.

“If rates stay low at near 5 percent or lower, home sales could rise nationally by 10 to 15 percent in 2009 and stabilize prices in many parts of the country,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “That, in turn, will help reduce foreclosure pressures and lower the rate of re-defaults on recently modified distressed loans. Improved loan modification tools are also necessary. Everyone needs to work together so this can become a reality.”

NAR continues to advocate for other measures that would help create long-term stability by ensuring that safe and affordable mortgages are available throughout the nation. This includes making the higher loan limits passed in the economic stimulus bill earlier this year permanent and extending the temporary $7,500 tax credit for first-time home buyers to all home buyers and eliminating the repayment requirement.

McMillan said, “The work is not yet finished, and NAR is committed to continuing its efforts with policy makers and the new Congress and administration to get the real estate market back on track. The nation’s economy depends on it.”