I am coming off maternity leave long enough to post this weeks weekly market activity report.  I just couldn’t resist.  Thanks to Mark Allen for this Real Estate version of “Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the market,
Realtors were selling houses in the Twin Cities, some wearing parkas.

For the week ending December twelfth there was such a clatter,
Pending sales flattened out, unlike a step ladder.

542 for the week, which was 2.5 percent under last year,
When market volatility was in the stratosphere.

New listings were down to a more normal fashion,
With 1,028 added this week, a stable ration.

Santa may be bringing sellers some Christmas luck,
With the laws of supply and demand in flux.

“On Original Price, on Days on Market!” he calls,
But Housing Affordability makes sellers feel mighty tall.

With just one week left in the year 2009,
The Twin Town Market looks to end just fine.

Click Here, for the Full Market Report courtesy of MAAR.

Wishing you Merry Christmas and a prosperous and joyful New Year. 

December 1st the first time homebuyer tax credit is ready to expire.   To close by this date you will need to purchase in the next couple of weeks, contrary to the video, in our market closings take 30-45 days after all terms to a purchase have been agreed upon by the seller and buyer.  It is not too late.  Contact me if you would like to talk more about this free $8,000. 

For questions about the tax credit take a look at www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com.

Traditional Sellers: It’s "Go" Time

Or so says local REALTOR® and our data-friend (is that a word?), Aaron Dickinson in a recent blog post.

With foreclosure inventory dropping like a stone and often subject to multiple-offer price wars, and short sales still requiring a substantial amount of time and effort to close, Dickinson argues that traditional sellers have a unique window of opportunity in the fall market to nab a buyer. And that’s especially true for first-time buyers who need a quick close to get in before the November 30th tax credit deadline.

From the post:

• The first time home buyer $8000 tax credit expires on November 30, 2009 and most transactions take 3-5 weeks to close after an offer is made.
• Buyers will have to have chosen and negotiated on a house by the end of October to have a reasonable assurance of closing prior to the expiration of the credit.
• Banks do not have great concern over deadlines when dealing with REOs, so they are not likely to consider November 30th a “make or break” date even though the buyer will.
• Buyers making offers on short sales risk missing the tax credit if the answer from the seller’s lender takes to long or isn’t acceptable.
• In the coming weeks Buyers will find that the only option they have available to them has been the one who has been ready and waiting for this moment: the Traditional Seller.

If you are a Traditional Seller and your house is currently listed, keep it listed through Halloween if you can.  In past years the market quickly quiets after school starts but this year appears to be very different.  If you’ve been considering taking an additional price reduction, take it as soon as you can so you are priced correctly when the buyers’ interest swings your way… this will likely be you last-best-hope for selling till March 2010.

As we noted in our post from last week (see "Neighborhoods Where Traditional Homes are in Shortest Supply"), this has already started, to a degree. Sales of traditional, non-lender-mediated homes are up below $150,000 where first-time buyers can afford.

Sounds like "go" time for sellers.

Thanks to Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors

I would also like to insert my prediction of what might take place prior to the tax credit expiring.  With many single family homes selling in multiple offers, many buyers are going to take a second look at townhouses/condos.  This segment of the market has suffered immensely as many buyers want and demand single family homes in what used to be a buyers market.  With shortage of affordable single family homes more buyers will be buying townhouses.  So by looking in my crystal ball, my prediction is that we will see a rise in pending sales of townhouses and condos!!!

Reprinted from The Skinny Blog from the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors:

Neighborhoods Where Traditional Homes Are In Shortest Supply

Last week we looked at which neighborhoods were seeing their inventory of available foreclosures and short sales dwindling. The general conclusion: lender-mediated properties are going fast and buyers have to be quick and aggressive to secure them.

This week we’re looking at the other side of the coin: homes listed by traditional sellers. In general, these properties are not selling quite as quickly than their cheaper lender-mediated cousins and are still facing challenging conditions. As of September 1 there was 10.1 months of traditional supply compared to 4.0 months of lender-mediated supply.

But there are some areas where traditional properties are moving relatively quickly. Let’s take a look at the Top 30 neighborhoods by Months Supply of Inventory. You’ll probably notice some patterns. Think urban and first-ring suburban, dudes:

Homes Listed by Traditional Sellers              Months Supply    Active Listings

1  303 - MPLS - Longfellow                               2.7                     55

2  744 - SP-Como                                              3.8                     51

3  361 - Crystal                                                 4.0                     62

4  304 - MPLS - Nokomis                                   4.3                     192

5  750 - SP-Mac/Groveland/River Road             4.4                    72

6  363 - Brooklyn Center                                   4.8                    73

7  378 - Richfield                                               4.9                    118

8  306 - MPLS - Northeast                                  5.1                    123

9  752 - SP-Highland Area                                   5.1                   82

10  308 - MPLS - Powderhorn                             5.7                   92

11  379 - Bloomington-East                                6.0                   93

12  362 - New Hope                                            6.1                   60

13  602 - South St. Paul                                      6.1                   67

14  360 - Robbinsdale                                         6.1                   72

15  746 - SP-St. Anthony/Midway                       6.2                  69

16  310 - MPLS - University                                 6.4                  42

17  309 - MPLS - Southwest                                6.4                  287

18  748 - SP-Town & Country                              6.5                  41

19  301 - MPLS - Camden                                     6.8                  150

20  742 - SP-Central                                             7.0                  70

21  738 - SP-Home Croft/W 7Th                           7.0                  30

22  768 - Fridley                                                   7.1                  85

23  770 - Hilltop/Columbia Heights                      7.2                  78

24  771 - Spring Lake Park                                   7.3                   22

25  766 - Moundsvw/New Brightn/St.Anthony   7.3                   150

26  391 - Saint Louis Park                                    7.4                   301

27  702 - Falcon Hghts/Lauderdale/Roseville      7.5                    159

28  716 - SP-Hillcrest/Hazel Park/Dayton’s Bluff 7.5                    191

29  720 - SP-Southeast St. Paul                          7.5                    39

30  714 - SP-Phalen                                             7.5                    113

There’s not a second- or third-ring suburb in the bunch. You’ll also notice that these neighborhoods tend not to contain too many expensive homes. The median prices in these neighborhoods tend to fall in the low-to-mid ranges that are affordable to a larger swath of home buyers. And when you think about perhaps the largest factor driving buyer demand right now, it makes a lot of sense: the first-time home buyer tax credit, dummy.

Let me show you what I mean:

I’d call that a pattern.

First-time home buyers are extremely active due to the tax credit and—unless mom and dad have chipped in a ridiculous amount of money to help—first-time home buyers don’t typically buy homes in the $500,000 and above price range.

What we’ve got is an extremely bottom-heavy market (insert inappropriate metaphor here) with robust activity in the price ranges typically populated by first-time buyers, and a declining market still searching for a bottom in the higher price ranges.

Takeaway: traditional home sellers in the mid-to-low price ranges have a serious window of opportunity for the next month to find a willing buyer, especially with foreclosure inventory becoming so scarce. When the tax credit expires in November, the landscape might look a little different.

Check out what is happening in the real estate market.  Good news for homes priced under $150,000.  Median sales price on the rise.

Median Sales Price

Lender Mediated $125,000

Traditional Sellers $209,000

 

The September Housing Supply Outlook is online now. As usual, here’s a few quick takeaways from this hyper-detailed look at the Twin Cities housing market.

Takeaway #1: The single-family detached market segment is rapidly approaching a balanced equilibrium. There are currently 6.3 months of supply available in that segment compared to 8.0 and 11.7 months in the townhome and condominium segments, respectively. The lower price ranges of the single-family detached segment are actually now extreme seller’s markets, with only 2.3 months of supply available under $120,000, for example.

Takeaway #2: Sales continue to boom below $200,000 as first-time buyers move to take advantage of the final days of the federal tax credit. Expect sales to continue at a brisk pace for the next two months as the "last call before bar close" buyers take advantage of the final days of this substantial market incentive.

Click here to view the September Housing Supply Outlook.

Months Supply of Inventory by Property Type:

Thanks to The Skinny Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors and Jeff Allan

The Q2-2009 Update to "Foreclosures and Short Sales in the Twin Cities Housing Market" has been released. Click here to view. Click on neighborhood for detailed view of MLS area.  Interesting Numbers!

Per the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors Blog "The Skinny"

Prices Creep Up as Traditional Sales Grow

Word on the street is that people like lists more than prose for receiving information they can digest with ease. This hurts my writerly heart, but, hey, I get it. We’re busy people these days. Two hundred emails per day, 15 blogs to follow, 65 Facebook status updates, 450 Twitter feeds. Plus all the other stuff you’re actually trying to get paid to do, not to mention the personal life you want to have. Goodness gracious.

So let’s do this for you, MSP:

Stats Snapshot:

1. June saw 5,183 signed purchase agreements, up 33.7 percent from this time last year.

2. 40.7 percent of closed sales in June were lender-mediated, compared to 59.7 percent in January.

3. A decrease in lender-mediated market share brought the overall median price up from last month to $173,500 in June. Despite the month-over-month increase, that’s still a 15.4 percent drop from June 2008.

4. The median June sales price of traditional homes was $210,000, down 7.7 percent from a year ago

5. The median June sales price of lender-mediated homes was $124,025, down 16.8 percent from a year ago.

6. The number of properties for sale at the end of June was 26,204, down 21.9 percent from this time last year.

7. There are 7.3 months of supply available, down significantly from the 10.6 seen at this time last year and trending back down towards a balanced market of 5 to 6 months of supply.

8. There are 10.9 months of traditional supply and only 4.4 months of lender-mediated supply.

Primary Takeaways:

1. June’s pending sales were the highest June showing since 2005 and the 12th consecutive month of year-over-year increases.

2. With low mortgage rates and the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers, we’re seeing the recent jump in sales spill over into the traditional market.

3. We still have an abnormally high number of foreclosures and short sales, but it’s an improvement from six months ago.

4. Sellers still face a challenging market, but things look better for them than they have in awhile. 

June Skinny Video-  More good insight about our crazy twin cities real estate market.  Lots of good news check it out! 

There is a new website for all you urbanites looking to move into either Minneapolis or St Paul.  LIVEMSP.ORG is your one stop shop for buying in the city.  It has wonderful information regarding the home buying process along with detailed neighborhood information.  This is an informative website for the relocating buyer or for the novice twin citian.  You can also follow them on Twitter.  I thought I’d make a list of my favorite places in Minneapolis and St Paul.  I enjoy both cities equally and think they each have unique qualities and do not have a favorite! 

Minneapolis-

Lake Harriet/Lake Calhoun- between the two I think Lake Calhoun is better people watching.

Isles Bun and Coffee Shop- 1424 West 28th Street, my mouth is watering just thinking of the Puppy Dog Tails.  On a nice day don’t be put off by the line out the door, it is well worth the wait. 

Nokomis Beach Coffee- 4956 28TH Ave S, not just coffee, but ice cream, wonderful pastries and waffles.

Fat Lorenzos- 5600 Cedar Ave S- my husbands favorite, your neighborhood pizza joint.

Town Talk Diner- 2707 E Lake St- they serve Pabst Blue Ribbon in the can and have cheese curds, do I need to say more? 

Midtown Global Market- Lake St and 10th Ave S- shopping and food, something for everyone.

Bar Abeline- 1300 Lagoon Ave S- Wonderful mojitos and table side guacamole

St Paul-

St Paul Farmers Market- 290 E 5th St- locally grown, they also have meat, eggs and cheese.

The Nook- 429 Hamline Ave S- juicy nookie burger, be careful of the hot cheese that may squirt out.

J & S Bean Factory- 1518 Randolph Ave- good freshly roasted coffee with a great atmosphere, many blog posts done here

Alexander Ramsey House- 265 S Exchange St- first governor home, be a tourist in your own backyard

Mad Hatter Coffee Cafe and Tea Shop- 945 W 7th St- truly local, tell Fran I sent ya!

MN State Fair- 12 best days of summer- August 27- September 7th, mark your calendars. 

Skinners Pub and Eatery- 919 Randolph Ave- best Reuben pizza, if it isn’t on the menu just ask.

Both a Minneapolis and St Paul favorite by many-The Minnesota Twins!