After six months of lower year-over-year pending sales numbers, the Twin Cities has finally posted an improvement in sales activity.  The week ending 12/4/10 saw 606 pending home sales versus 551 in the same period a year ago, which is an increase of 10% from the prior year’s figure.  Pending sales are properties that have accepted offers but have not yet closed.

You’ll notice that each week there’s been an improvement in year-over-year comparisons and that is partly due to the artificial demand we saw last year when the tax credit was originally set to expire.  This week’s sales increase is pretty good news in and of itself but what is even more interesting to me is that sales for the week ending 12/4 in 2010 looks to have been the strongest showing for that week since 2006!  While it isn’t a huge jump in sales in comparison to prior years, it is still a small improvement.  What is striking is how consistent the sales have been since the expiration of the tax credit:

Weekly Pending Sales

While the numbers are not huge, they have been consistent and that is reassuring – no matter the circumstances, a certain number of homes will be bought and sold and this leveling in demand says to me that we’ve found that fundamental level.  An early review I did of pending sales for the week ending 12/11/10 shows sales just about where they were the same week last year, which would make it the 2nd best week in comparison to the prior year since the tax credit expiration.

The housing market is far from recovered but at least it’s reassuring to see an occasional positive indicator like we did this week.