Maple Grove in general followed the Twin Cities market, you know we had our coming into winter slowdown that we typically see in November. I am just going to compare you to last November, so we are comparing apples to apples. Last year compared to this year, we are pretty much straight on, we sold 75 houses last year in November, this year was 73. But last year we put 97 new houses on the Maple Grove Market, this year only 74, so a little bit less on the inventory.
The good news is the sales price. In Maple Grove, average sales price last year was $262,528. This year it has jumped up almost $20,000 to $282,500, so that’s about 7.6% increase year-over-year.
Another good indicator to talk about the health of our market is the percent of distressed properties, how many in these transactions are short sales or bank owned properties. Last year this time that number was 33%, typical, very typical for winter season. More banks and short sales are selling as opposed to traditional. This year that number is down to 18%, so that’s telling me that there is less and less of that inventory sitting around, which generally means that we are in healthier inventory.
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If you've watched any of my reports, you know that I am a big fan of the months of supply indicator. Months supply says how long it's going to take to be able to sell all the houses on the market with the number of buyers that we have. There are several factors that go into it, but if you have a number anywhere six or below, you end up being in a seller’s market. Right around that six, it’s called a balanced market, above six, it’s a buyer’s market.
Right now we are seeing numbers that are just tremendously low with regards to – it’s very much a seller’s market. November 2012 that number was at 3.0, this year it was 2.6, that’s about a 13% drop. That means offers are getting put in on houses right away, closer to list price, sometimes at multiple offer situations. Houses that are in the right condition and listed at the right price are selling very quickly. So, that's great information for sellers. If you are a buyer, it just means you have to be very diligent and focused and when you see that house, you have to be willing to think about it fairly quickly and make a decision if you want to move forward.
