December Real Estate Video Update

Weekly Twin Cities Real Estate Market Report

Weekly Market Activity Report
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The post-Thanksgiving bump is in effect for the Twin Cities housing market. The week ending December 5 saw pending sales swing upward from the previous week by 152 to settle at 551. This is 7.7 percent less than last year at this time, marking the third week of the last four to post pending sales numbers lower than a year ago. The aftermath of the tax credit's initial expiration date is combining with the typical holiday slowdown to bring sales down.

Two other important metrics:

Months Supply of Inventory – At 5.7, this is the lowest MSI in more than two years and a full 32.9 percent below last year. This bodes well for sellers in general, but the higher price ranges are still buyer's markets.

Housing Affordability Index – At 207 and improving, this is welcome news. This means that the average family income in the Twin Cities region is 207 percent of what it takes to qualify to purchase the median priced home.

-MAAR

Funny!!!! For all my real estate friends.

Weekly Market Report

The local housing market experienced the traditional Turkey Day drop off for the week ending November 28 as Twin Citizens focused more on turkey and stuffing than purchase agreements and closing dates.

Even taking into account the expected holiday drop, market activity in the last few weeks has slowed considerably from the breakneck pace we saw during the first 10 months of the year, likely due to the passing of the home buyer tax credit's initial deadline. There were 5.9 percent fewer pending sales compared to the same week in 2008. That's only the second week of year-over-year decrease in all of 2009 (the first was two weeks earlier).

Now for the good news: Days on Market before Sale dropped 14.5 percent to 127, and the Percentage of Original List Price trended positive over last year to 94.3. These two metrics should shore up sellers who are weathering the current economic storm.

-MAAR