Homes Are On Fire! (Not Literally)

With the real estate market for the second quarter now in the books, seasonal peaks and valleys should start to become apparent. Even if activity begins to slow for the remainder of 2012, gains are still likely when compared to the same time last year. Housing demand has been strong, supply levels have been falling and prices are turning a corner in many local markets. Keep a watchful eye toward market times, percent of list price received at sale and months of supply. Percent of new listings and closed sales that are in foreclosure or short sale status also serve as market indicators.

We have seen a very consistant level of home sales and inventory reductions for many months now. These numbers are not just a recent fad, but the types of numbers seen below have been the norm for the year! If these numbers keep up we will end up with a serious lack of available properties on the market. We are already seeing signs of this now with many buyers looking for more properties to look at than is available. 

In the Twin Cities region, for the week ending July 7:

• New Listings decreased 21.9% to 970
• Pending Sales increased 24.6% to 892
• Inventory decreased 30.8% to 17,134

For the month of June:

• Median Sales Price increased 10.4% to $179,000
• Days on Market decreased 22.0% to 113
• Percent of Original List Price Received increased 4.0% to 95.1%
• Months Supply of Inventory decreased 44.0% to 4.5

If you really look at these numbers you will see that there is a real lack of inventory coming on the market right now. This is creating a swing to becoming a sellers market as sellers today don't have as many homes to compete with. There has also been a consistant reduction in the number of distressed properties as well which also helps the regular sellers on the market.