Sunlight and rainbows breaking out after the housing market storm passes
As the news media has been reporting with greater regularity recently, the supply of homes for sale in the Twin Cities has been shrinking dramatically – down over 31% in the last 12 months.
As of March 14th, 2013 there were 12,399 homes for sales in the Twin Cities on the NorthstarMLS system. That works out to approximately 13 weeks of supply or approximately 3 months of homes for sale. A balanced market between supply and demand is typically considered to be in the 5-6 months of inventory range, so we’re considered to be in a Seller’s Market.
Even though 12,399 homes are officially listed as “Active” on the MLS, nearly 24% of those homes (2,948) have an offer already accepted on them. This brings actual available inventory of 9,451 homes and equals approximately a 10 week, or 2.3 month, supply of homes for sale.
We’re setting up for the strongest seller’s market in a decade and many buyers are completely unprepared. Months supply is likely to remain flat or potentially decline further throughout the year.
I can’t stress enough how important it is for buyers to be proactive and decisive in their home search. Prices should rise an additional 10%-12% this year.
At the same time, I urge any homeowner who has considered selling their home to contact a REALTOR to do a market analysis of their home – you may be surprised to see how much your home is worth!
