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. 

Weekly Market Activity Report

Let’s take a trip in the WABAC Machine (pronounced "wayback") to see what our current market landscape looks like compared to years past.

• The 1,026 signed purchase agreements for the week ending August 15? That’s the most since 2005.
• The 25,765 active listings for sale? The fewest since 2005.
• The 1,630 new listings? Fewest since 2002.

In other words, buyer activity is growing and supply is shrinking. There are fewer homes available per buyer than at any point since 2005, and inventory should only continue to tighten through the remainder of the year.

Click here for the full Weekly Market Activity Report.

Thanks to Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS^® for these insightful statistics

The July Monthly Skinny has just become available.  Check it out. 

The trend for the weekly statistics are more of the same, more pending sales and less inventory, compared to last year.  Click here for the full version of the weekly report.   

New weekly statistics are out as of Tuesday May26th from Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS®.  Quoting Mark Allen, more good news:

Inventory is being sold through at a rate that is still flying high above last year’s numbers. Breaking the 1,200 pending sales threshold for the first time in three years, the 1,235 pending sales occurring during the most recent reporting week is up 36.9 percent over the same week last year. While many of these sales are lender-mediated properties, the increase in sales is welcome news regardless.

The decline in new listings, coupled with increased pending sales, has resulted in active listings supply dropping significantly. A year-over-year comparison of active listings from last May reveals a drop of 20.5 percent, bringing our Supply-Demand Ratio down to a healthy 5.23 houses for sale per buyer.

The rebalancing is beginning but the journey back will be slow. It appears that enough houses will soon be off the market, thus creating a rebalancing of the buyer-seller mix and a reversal in price trends.

Here is the full weekly statistical report. 

Thanks to Mark Allen, CEO of Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS®, for providing us these valuable and positive statistics and for all the little humor thrown in.  

It’s becoming a wild and active spring for the Twin Cities housing market. First, pending sales ought to give REALTORS® some joy in their Easter baskets, with 1,004 reported for the week ending April 4—a 28.7 percent increase over last year and the best single week since May 2007. New listings went skyward compared to last week with 2,055 for the week ending April 4, but they remain 11.2 percent behind the same week a year ago.

The recent jump in sales is bringing the supply of available homes down even further. There are currently 26,085 homes on the market in the region—17.5 percent below this time last year and good for 7.7 months of supply.

Finally, like Warren Robinett in Adventure, this week’s WMAR has its own Easter egg tucked away. The Housing Affordability Index for April has grown to 218, which means the median family income is 218 percent of what’s necessary to qualify for the median priced home. For those of you scoring at home, that’s a 40.8 percent increase over where we stood last year at this time and is 77.3 percent over our low point of 123 in July 2006. We have to bear in mind that increased lender-mediated activity makes that number supernaturally high.

All in all, dropping prices, low mortgage rates and government incentive programs for home buyers are making this a spring to remember.

MAAR Weekly Market Activity Report- click for detailed report!!!!

MAAR March Statistics- more good news! Per Mark Allen, Compared to a year ago, there are more buyers out there and they have less to choose from. But sellers still face a tough road that requires smart pricing and marketing.  I couldn’t have said it better myself, thanks Mark. 

Per Mark Allen from Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS®,

Has everyone remembered to “spring” forward?  It looks like the Twin Cities Housing Market certainly has, as the new season has brought in an uptick in sales along with the warm weather.  The market can only hope that “spring” fever is more than just a figure of speech.

Speaking of pending sales, while they have tapered off during the week ending March 14, there is no denying that since the new year began pending sales have steadily outperformed last year’s numbers.  In fact, even with almost no increase in pending sales activity the 870 pending sales for the week are still 14.9 percent higher than last March at this time.

Total active listings are another story.  While new listings for this period are only 13.9 percent lower than last year, active listings are down nearly 14.7 percent.  This can be looked at in a positive light however if you consider the combination of pending sales, decreasing inventory, and higher HAI (Housing Affordability Index) are all helping to get more people into homes throughout the new spring season.  This coupled with the federal government’s tax credit efforts could give the Twin Cities housing market the added boost it needs to awaken and to realize the potential that is out there.

There are many other events that coincide with spring:  spring training, spring fever, spring boards…ok that last one isn’t technically associated with the season.  But with the Month’s Supply of Inventory for March down 15.2 percent over last year, agents across the Twin Cities can assist buyers in diving right into the market now that conditions are beginning to warm.

What I have noticed in the market is when setting up showings for my buyers many homes are already sold and some are even selling in multiple offers!  For all you stat lovers, click here for the full weekly report.