Data Supplied by the Regional Multiple Listing Service Inc.

June was a busy month for SPAAR President and Snyder Team leader Jennifer Snyder. “In addition to it being ‘that time of year’ when families want to get moved and settled before the new school year, buyers feel that we have finally hit the bottom in terms of affordability,” she said.

Snyder’s sentiments are reflected in statistics released last week for the 13-county Twin Cities metropolitan area. While new listings are down, pending sales are up—nearly one-and-a-half times what they were over last June’s post-tax credit slump.

“Properties that are priced appropriately for the market are moving,” said Snyder. “Listings at all different price points are selling—and in a couple of cases it’s even getting tricky to find the right inventory for a specific buyer—a good problem I haven’t experienced in a while,” she said.

When combined with record affordability, the 5.5% decline in new listings and a 15.9% decrease in inventory add an element of urgency buyers haven’t experienced in some time.

The flow of financially distressed properties onto the market appears to be slowing, and those on the market are selling. Foreclosures and short sales accounted for 38.2% of all sales, the lowest level since June 2010. 

For more details, look at these June statistics: THE 200+ I HOUSING SUPPLY OVERVIEW

Monthly Skinny Video February 2011

The video is also offered in Spanish for our relocation friends!

Monthly Skinny Video February 2011 ~ Spanish

Home Sales were up in January 10.4 percent from a year ago and were the highest January total in the Twin Cities since 2007. “We’ve had back-to-back months where sales have outpaced our expectations,” said Jennifer Snyder, our team member and president of the St. Paul Area Association of REALTORS®.

In January in the Twin Cities, there were 2,209 sales compared to 2,001 sales a year ago, an increase of 10.39 percent. January and February are traditionally the slowest months of the year for home sales in the Twin Cities. “We have seen an uptick in sales activity and activity in the market in the last two months,” Snyder said.

Median prices were down 10.8 percent from last year to $140,000, from $157,000 last January. “We saw sales down last year, but prices increased slightly. We may be seeing a shift of increased sales activity tied to prices adjusting,” Snyder said. “Especially in the winter months, there are buyers looking for bargains, and the price decrease likely reflects an increase in sales of foreclosed properties and other distressed properties.”

The median is the mid-point. Half the homes sold for more, half for less. Numbers reflect the 13-county metro area and include single-family, condominiums and townhouses.

~SPAAR Press Release February 11, 2011~

Monthly Skinny January 2011

Forbes recently released its 2011 List of Best and Worst Job Markets in the United States. The Minneapolis-St. Paul area found itself at number 4 on the Best Job Market List.  Washington, DC was rated number 1 on the Best list followed by Boston and then Austin.  Las Vegas was named the Worst Job Market in the US.

The Twin Cities employment market is expected to be fully recovered by mid-2011, according to Moody’s Economy.com.  This is far early than what is expected nationally.  The unemployment rate is 6.5%, under the national average.  For every position there are 2.68 job seekers. Professional service jobs and manufacturing are the sectors expected to bring job growth to Minneapolis-St. Paul in 2011

The 2011 list of Best and Worst Job Markets was compiled by using unemployment data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Job Search Difficulty Index from JuJu.com.  Additional analysis of trends came from Moody.

To see a slideshow of the entire 2011 Best and Worst Job Markets List, click here.

~Information from Forbes.com~

Washington County also saw an increase in year over year median sales prices.  From December 2008 through November 2009 it was $190,000.  December 2009 through November 2010 saw the median sales price increase 2.6% to $195,000.

While every city and neighborhood is different, this shows home values are increasing through Washington County.  This helps homeowners who want to refinance and sellers who are ready sell.  This also shows homeowners with no intention of selling their investment is growing.

Monthly Skinny Video December 2010

The video is also offered in Spanish.  Click here to see that version of the Monthly Skinny.

November Monthly Skinny Video

October Monthly Skinny Video

The video is also offered in Spanish.  Click here to see that version of the Monthly Skinny.