Real Estate News Blog

It’s been almost 3 months since the expiration of the federal home buyer tax credit and the market appears to have settled into something of a rhythm. With the dust settling, pending sales have become mostly fixed in the 500-to-600 per week range for the past 9 weeks.

While the dramatic drop from a year ago is certainly not positive, demand is at least holding relatively steady for the time being. The 626 purchase agreements signed for the week ending July 17 were 39.7 percent behind a year ago.For the same reporting week there were 1,618 new listings in the Twin Cities, down 10.0 percent from a year ago.

Inventory is rising due to slower demand. The 27,350 homes currently available for sale represent an increase of 4.8 percent from last year.

Click here for the full Weekly Market Activity Report.

From The Skinny.

The post-tax credit malaise continues as the Twin Cities housing market comes to grips with the new normal. Pending Sales for the week ending June 26 were down 47.6 percent versus 2009 numbers from 1,121 a year ago to 587 now. New Listings are also down from a year ago, though not to the same extreme as Pending Sales, only dropping 6.5 percent from a year ago.

With demand weakening faster than new supply, the inventory of available homes is starting to grow. The current count of 27,526 homes is 3.2 percent higher than at this time last year.

The slight growth in total inventory is happening in the face of dropping demand, which means that the balance between buyers and sellers is shifting back in the buyer's favor. This is reflected in July's Supply Demand Ratio of 7.44, which was a ginormous 46.9 percent over last July and means that there are 7.44 homes available for each buyer during the month of July.

Click here for the full Weekly Market Activity Report.

From The Skinny.