May statistics released by the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors show closed sales were up 8.4% compared to last May, and pending sales continue to be even higher, with a 17.3% increase over last year. Pending sales have been consistently higher than closed sales this year…indicative of the longer time it is taking to close due to bank mediated properties and changes in the appraisal process.
Although sales are up overall, sales in the higher price ranges are down over 20% compared to last year. New listings continue to hang below past years.
The total supply of homes for sale is still way below last year, about 18% below in May. Instead of the usual upward swoop in the traditional spring market, the total number of homes for sale has been maintaining a slow but steady climb so far this year.
The trend that is changing is the proportion of traditional to bank-mediated sales. Only 43.0% of pending sales in May were lender-mediated, compared to 59.4% in January. This has also resulted in an overall increase in median sale price.
There continues to be a great disparity in months supply of homes available by property type. I added a fourth year for comparison this month, so you can see how houses are almost back to 2006 levels. Condos continue to have the largest supply in relation to buyers with still more than a year's supply of properties for sale.
The figures above are for the combined 13-county Twin Cities metropolitan area. Click here for links to the full May combined report as well as local reports for 125 metro communities.
Sharlene Hensrud, Realtor – Twin Cities Market Info – Email
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