The Bloomington, Minnesota real estate market remains a little sluggish as the United States works its way through a financial crisis. However, 2009 figures held close to those of 2008 without significant declines in home sales or home prices. In fact, the average sales price of a home in 2009 was actually up 9.2 percent, $211,295 in 2009 compared to a 2008 average sales price of $195,537. The median or “middle” sales price was down slightly at 5.1 percent through December.

An indication of the country’s overall economy, home listings were up 19.7 percent over listings in 2008. According to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors, 66 homes were listed in 2008 in Hennepin County while 79 were listed there in 2009. The increased listings alone are not necessarily a negative indicator. But, home sales were down 9.1 percent with 55 homes being sold in 2008 and 50 sold in 2009. What does the combination of those factors mean to home shoppers? Homes in Bloomington, MN are likely to be on sale with reduced prices and motivated sellers.

Some homes are selling on the minnesota mls, likely to buyers motivated by an $8,000 tax credit offered by the federal government through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. The credit, available to first-time homebuyers as a result of a housing market stimulus package, was due to sunset on Nov. 30, 2009. Before the tax credit expired, Congress raced to extend the credit (with the available amount reduced to $6,500) and expanded its benefits to include repeat buyers too. National Association of Realtors’ Chief Economist Lawrence Yun helped champion the tax credit through Congress and attributes improvements in the real estate market to the plan that motivated buyers to move.

Homes appear to have sold faster in 2009 compared to 2008 in Bloomington, MN and Hennepin County. In 2008, homes were remaining on the market an average of 146 days before they sold. In 2009 they are reported to have sold 16.7 percent faster with homes for sale on the market an average of only 122 days.

By the end of 2008, there were 321 single-family detached homes on the market for sale. By the end of 2009, there were 265 such homes on the market. That doesn’t necessarily mean these homes were sold, some may have simply fallen into expired listings and others may have been removed from the market for other reasons. The townhouse-condo inventory was down slightly in 2009 as well with 165 inventoried in 2009 and 172 inventoried in 2008.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 11:40 am and is filed under Minneapolis Real Estate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.