Data is in for January 2021 and inventory continued to drop, even more than in December. Last year started looking hopeful for inventory, even a little ahead of the year before in March… but then started falling when Covid-19 came to live with us, with December 2020 ending 35.6% below December 2019. And January ended even lower… at 42.6% below the previous year!
New listings were down 8.8% in January, but pending sales were up 5.6% and closed sales up 14.6%… now wonder overall inventory was down.
With buyers wanting to take advantage of low interest rates and low inventory, competition for existing listings is fierce. Average days on market from listing to pending dropped 37.3% to 42 days. But keep in mind this is the average… many properties accept an offer the first few days on the market, then move on to inspection before pending.
Multiple offers are common, with the average seller getting 99.5% of asking price. That translates to an increase in median sale price of 11.5% over January 2020, to $301,000.
Months supply of inventory, which takes into account both the number of homes for sale and the rate at which they are selling, was tied with December at 0.9 months. The price range in shortest supply was $190k-$250k at only half a month, but what really blows my mind is that even homes in the $1M+ price range had only a 4.4 month supply… that is unheard of! Keep in mind that the market is considered balanced at a 5-6 month supply.
Months supply of inventory is different not only for different price ranges, but also for different property types, with houses and townhouses both at a 0.8 month supply and condos at a 2.6 month supply. Condo supply started growing after March last year, is now moderating somewhat but still far ahead of houses and townhouses when measured by months supply.
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
RELATED POSTS
