Minnesota Real Estate Weekly Update

For the week ending October 20th, 2007, the Twin Cities continue to remain in a heavy, heavy buyer's market. 1,792 new listings went onto the market this past week, with 564 going pending. This number of pendings is a drop of 18.1% from the same time in 2006.

Currently, there are 33,400 active listings on the market in the 13 county Twin Cities metro area. This is an increase of 9.5% from this same time in 2006.

Mary Alice Short, with the short sale department on The Minnesota Real Estate Team, continues to sell a massive amount of listings. If you are going through a difficult time and need to look at the option of "short saling" your home (selling it for less than what you owe on it), please give us a call at 952-223-1150.

Look for another real estate update next week!

Minnesota Real Estate Weekly Update

We saw 1793 new listings go onto the market here in the Twin Cities last week, with 568 going pending. This number of pendings is an 18.3% drop from the same time in 2006. Currently there are 33,648 listings on the market, an increase of 9.6% compared to 2006. Days on market is averaging 141 days, an increase of 25% from 2006. And currently, there are 10.47 homes on the market for every one buyer.

What does this mean to you as a buyer? There has never been a better time to buy! More selection allows you to "put yourself in the driver seat" and negotiate!

What does this mean to you as a seller? Be realistic on price. Reduce, reduce, reduce! And make sure your property is in tip top shape.

In spite of this market, our team, The Minnesota Real Estate Team, has sold 273 properties year to date. We are currently the #48 ranked RE/MAX team in the USA. Give us a call at 952-223-1150 to find out how we can help you if you are looking to buy or sell within the next few years.

Look for another real estate update next week!

Minnesota Real Estate Weekly Update

For the real estate week ending Oct 6th, 2007, for the 13 county Twin Cities area, pending sales are down 21% compared to this exact same time last year. There were 625 newly signed purchase agreements compared to 790 in 2006. 2011 new listings went on the market this past week as well.

There are currently 33,847 active residential properties on the market. This is an increase of 9% compared to 2006. There are 10.47 houses for sale for every one buyer. For comparison sake, there were 8.32 houses per one buyer in October 2006, and 5.45 for sale for every buyer in October 2005.

Currently, it would take 9.9 months for all active inventory to become pending or sold. This is up 28% from 2006.

Look for another real estate update next week!

Soft housing market continues

Two weeks ago, Brigid Ryan-Ling put her four-bedroom home in Saint Paul on sale.

"Everyone's told us we're crazy," she said. "Gluttons for punishment, we've heard that many, many times."

But the key to not going crazy in this housing market is knowing the market isn't what it used to be.

"The biggest thing for us is keeping our expectations realistic," she said.

Wednesday the Saint Paul Association of Realtors released numbers telling home sellers exactly what they can expect. Home sales in September were down more than 22 percent from a year ago, across the 13-county metropolitan area. And homes are selling for less. The median price for a home sold last month was $225,000, down more than 2 percent from a year ago.

Homes are staying also on the market an average of 71 days. That's actually a slight improvement over the past couple of months.

Steve Hyland, the president of the Saint Paul Board of Realtors and says it's still a buyer's market but found reason for optimism.

"People who are really the experts in my business are saying, ‘We really are at a point where the bottom, if that's the right word, has just about been reached,'" he said, adding "There are some numbers in there, without trying to create a silver lining unnecessarily that are pretty positive."

One of the positive trends he pointed out is the glut of homes on the market is easing. The number of new listings is down almost four percent compared to last year. But maybe sellers are just discouraged. And foreclosures continue to cause pain.

Over the last two nights, hundreds of people worried about losing their homes have attended help sessions in Minneapolis and Saint Paul.

"There's a family, there's a story behind that house," said Ed Nelson, of the Minnesota Home Ownership Center. "It can ruin a family's credit."

In Minneapolis and Saint Paul there have been nearly 3,500 foreclosures already this year. That's more than there were in all of 2006.

The people who've been hosting the help sessions say half of the people in danger of losing their homes end up keeping their homes, once they seek guidance.

Realtor study says Twin Cities market "mildly unsteady"

Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal - by Carissa Wyant Staff Writer

A study released by the St. Paul Area Association of Realtors Wednesday says that the Twin Cities housing market remained "mildly unsteady" for the month of September.

Closed home sales for the month were 3,116, down 22.6 percent from September 2006, when there were 4,025 closed home sales. Pending sales were down as well. For the month of September 2007 there were 2,839 pending sales, down from 3,756 a year ago.

The median sales price for a home sold in the metro fell 2.13 percent to $225,000, from $229,000 one year ago.

There were 8,027 new listings added in September, a 9.4 percent drop from the 8,862 new listings added during September 2006.

The group also said home sales were down for the first nine months of 2007, home sales were down. There were 31,848 closed home sales during the 2007 period compared to 37,822 sales for the first nine months of 2006.

The Saint Paul Area Association of Realtors represents 4,800 members involved in the real estate industry.

Downtown condo projects in foreclosure

Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal - by Carissa Wyant Staff Writer

Banks have begun the foreclosure process on two downtown Minneapolis condo projects, according to officials and media reports.

San Francisco-based Bank of the West has begun foreclosure proceedings on the Sexton, a 123-unit development at 521 S. 7th St., according to John Stafford, vice president for corporate communications at Bank of the West.

In a phone interview Wednesday, Stafford said that a receiver was appointed to oversee the bank's interest in the property, which includes a $26 million construction loan. He confirmed that a little over half of that loan has yet to be repaid.

Bank of the West, which said its portfolio consists of a fair amount of construction and commercial real estate lending throughout its 19-state footprint, said it has seen these types of issues in other areas. "Given the general state of housing nationwide and housing markets, these kinds of foreclosure problems and loan payment issues are certainly not unique to Minneapolis," Stafford said. While Bank of the West is more heavily present in the Western U.S., it has been in Minnesota as bank and commercial lender since 2004.

Also, Minnetonka-based Minnwest Bank is in the process of foreclosing on the site of a proposed development on property according to media reports. The site is located at 10th Street and Park Avenue S., which was acquired by Heritage Development in 2004.

Minnesota Real Estate Weekly Update

This past week saw 1886 new listings come on the market, with 547 properties going pending. Overall inventory levels remain at 34,043 active residential properties for sale in the 13 county Twin Cities area.

The pending sales number for this week reflects a 26.3% drop from last year alone. The Supply Demand ratio increased to 10.47, meaning that there are 10.47 houses on the market for every one buyer, a new October record here in Minnesota.

Average market time is currently 135 days, up 25% from 108 days in 2006.

Lastly, we have 9.9 months supply of inventory here in the Twin Ciites. This means, if no new properties came on the market, it would take 9.9 months to sell through the existing inventory. This is a 30.5% increase from 2006 alone.

Look for another real estate update next week!