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Twin Cities Buyer Showing Activity

May 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
showing-data-5-20-13

While home sales in the Twin Cities are at 7 year highs, home buyer showings are actually down from last year:   Why are home showings down even though sales are up?  Simple.  Far fewer homes for sale this year means buyers simply have far less to look at. A couple years ago buyers could look at dozens of homes for sale that met their criteria and spend weeks deciding.  Today we often find that there are less than a dozen homes that really match a buyer's wants and they have only days to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Blog Posts, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats

Minnesota Foreclosures Continue Decline

May 13, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Q1 2013 Sheriff Sales in Minnesota

HousingLink just released their latest foreclosure report showing the strong declines in sheriff sales continues.   Once a sheriff sale has occurred, most properties will be listed by the bank that took it back 7-9 months later.  Consequently, the continued decline of bank owned listings for sale on the MLS is all but certain at this point.  When fewer properties go through foreclosure, neighborhood values are higher and we've seen this trend for over a year now.  This is great news for sellers … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Blog Posts, Foreclosures and Short Sales, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats

Housing Market’s Virtuous Cycle

May 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Housing Market Virtuous Cycle

The housing market has come roaring back in many markets throughout the U.S. and some have been questioning whether the surge of activity we're seeing has staying power. In many markets, from 2008 through much of 2012 we saw that nearly half of home sales were of foreclosed or short sale properties.  What we're seeing now is a return back to the Traditional Seller as foreclosure and short sale inventory declines sharply. What's crucial about this return to a more normal market is that in a Traditional Sale, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Community Issues, Featured Blog Posts, Foreclosures and Short Sales, Housing Analysis, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats, Opinion Tagged With:

Twin Cities Preforeclosure Activity Remains Sharply Lower

May 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Preforeclosures in the Twin Cities

The Minnesota Home Ownership Center released their quarterly preforeclosure notice data and the new is overall very good. Preforeclosure notices did tick up in the Twin Cities in Q1 2013 however the level remains less than half of what it was in the peak of the housing crisis.  Q4 2012 might have been a blip due to the holiday season.  We'll have to see what happens in the current quarter but my belief is that the preforeclosure levels will continue to trend lower as we see the economy improve and fewer … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Blog Posts, Foreclosures and Short Sales, Market Stats Tagged With:

Twin Cities Pending Home Sales 2nd Highest in 7+ Years

April 30, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Home Sales on the Rise

 Twin Cities pending home sales for the week ending April 20th, 2013 surged to their 2nd highest level in more than 7 years. In one week, 1,337 homes went under contract, which was the highest level since August 2005 except for a single week in 2010 when the first time home buyer tax credit was expiring. Pending sales were nearly 10% higher than the same week a year ago and continues the trend of increasing sales, declining inventory and rising prices. While sales are up, new listings are effectively flat … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Blog Posts, Housing Analysis, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats

Just 10 Weeks Supply of Twin Cities Housing

March 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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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 … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Blog Posts, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats, Opinion, Statistics

It’s Ok To (Slightly) Overprice Your Home Again

February 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment
overpriced

For 6 years agents and homeowners suffered terribly when they've overpriced a home for sale.  Some agents did not have the courage to give sellers the bad news and in some cases the sellers wouldn't listen to reason, even if there was a mountain of proof. With a huge glut of homes for sale and few buyers, there was so much competition at every price point that an overpriced home was getting few showings, if any, and wasn't making it onto buyer's followup lists.  This meant the home would sit on the market much … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Blog Posts, Info for Sellers, Market Stats, Market Updates, Opinion, Personal Experiences

Twin Cities Preforeclosure Notices Down 45%

January 23, 2013 by 2 Comments
2012_Q4_CountyBreakdown_Graph

The positive trends in housing continue as the Minnesota Home Ownership Center released Q4 2012 preforeclosure notice statistics that show such notices declined an astounding 45% from a year ago in both the Twin Cities and Minnesota as a whole: (click on images for a full view) As preforeclosure notices proceed a sheriff sale by 2-6 months, the continued decline of notices foretells future declines in sheriff sales and the continued waning of foreclosures in our housing market. There were still 39,000 … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Blog Posts, Foreclosures and Short Sales, Housing Analysis, Market Stats Tagged With: ,

2012: Twin Cities Housing Turnaround

December 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Home Sales on the Rise

The Twin Cities saw a surprising turnaround in the housing market in 2012.  While I had predicted that the Twin Cities had hit bottom in January 2012, no one, including myself, had expected as strong of a 2012 as we had. While final numbers are not in yet, 2012 was a banner year for the Twin Cities. Prices surged, Traditional Seller activity increased while distressed sales decreased, buyer demand swelled nearly 20% and the inventory of for-sale homes dropped almost 30%. That increase in buyer demand and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Crystal Ball Projections, Featured Blog Posts, Housing Analysis, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats, Market Updates

Minnesota Foreclosures Down 10%

November 16, 2012 by Leave a Comment
2012-q3-sheriff-sales

HousingLink just released their 2012 Q3 Minnesota Foreclosure Update, showing sheriff sales are down 10% from Q3 2011.  What is also worth noting is that they are down 38% from Q3 2010!  Here is a chart from their report:   … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Blog Posts, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats

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TwinCitiesRealEstateBlog.com is not a Multiple Listing Service MLS, nor does it offer MLS access.
This website is a service of Aaron Dickinson of Edina Realty, a broker Participant of the Regional Multiple Listing Service of Minnesota, Inc.