If my current contact with buyers and sellers is any indication, I can feel a more 'normal' market beginning to emerge. It seems traditional buyers and sellers who have been waiting for the market to sort itself out the past few years are coming to grips with the new pricing reality and are tired of waiting… they are ready to move forward. Historically low mortgage interest rates also help.
Median sale price is still on an upward climb compared to last year, but prices at the beginning of last year were so low that wasn't too hard to accomplish. As the oversupply of foreclosures has been gobbled up, buyers are migrating to higher priced homes because of supply.
Closed sales also continued to climb, helped along by homebuyer tax credits but following traditional spring market trends as well. I expect June closed sales to continue to be strong, but we won't likely see the July peak we saw last year. Pending sales were down compared to last year every week in May.
After a huge jump in March, new listings took a dive in May… both extremes likely fueled by the tax credit deadline the end of April. 
The total number of homes for sale has been steadily climbing since December, when it reached the lowest point since April 2005. I wouldn't be surprised to see the total cross over to more than last year in June, again following a more normal seasonal arc.
Sales by price range continue their shift upward, with the most dramatic shift in the lowest price range… sales up only 8.8% over last year compared to 20.5% last month. The market is considered balanced between buyer and seller when there is a 5-6 month supply of inventory.
Months supply of inventory for houses and townhouses are tied again this month… and while the condo supply has also improved to better than four years ago, price per square foot has declined by 15.4% over the last 12 months.
Months supply of houses and townhomes is tracking close together again, as they were in 2006-2007. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for condos to join them again… if they ever do.
The data above is based on statistics for the combined 13-county Twin Cities metropolitan area released by the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors. Click here for links to local reports for 125 metro area communities.
Sharlene Hensrud, RE/MAX Results - Email – Minneapolis – St. Paul Real Estate Market Information
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