After years of declining inventory, new listings have increased over the same month last year for the fifth month in a row and we finally have a month where there are more homes available for sale than the same month the previous year.
This is the shift we have been waiting for, but we still have a long way to go to get to a balanced market. The red line on the chart below shows a balanced market at 6 months supply of inventory. At 2.1 months for November, it was 10.5% over November 2017 but still low. The previous 3 months were holding steady with last year.
We are still in a seller’s market, but buyers should be happy to know there are finally more homes coming on the market from which to choose.
Median sales price continued to rise, to $265,150… days on market until sale continued to fall, to 52 days… and percent of list price softened to 97.3%, still a good position for sellers and encouraging for buyers that there aren’t as many crazy multiple offer situations.
Closed sales were down 0.9% and pending sales were down 5.2%. Some of that may have to do with the continued shortage of homes for sale in the ‘starter’ price ranges… there is still less than a 2 month supply of homes in price ranges under $350,000.
There is some concern over rising interest rates, but keep in mind that we are coming out of a period of exceptionally low interest rates never before seen… see rates below over the past 30 years.
Townhomes continue to be the housing type in shortest supply, attractive to both first time homebuyers and empty nesters.
Patterns are showing a shift to a more balanced market but we still have a way to go. For now, it is still a seller’s market in price ranges under $1M.
The figures above are based on statistics for the combined 13-county Twin Cities metropolitan area released by the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors.
Never forget that all real estate is local and what is happening in your neighborhood may be very different from the overall metro area.
Click here for local reports on 350+ metro area communities
Sharlene Hensrud, RE/MAX Results – shensrud@homesmsp.com
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