May 2010 Twin Cities Market Update
Date Posted:
Friday, June 11 2010 3:30 PM
The first full month of post tax credit numbers for the Twin Cities real estate market were published yesterday by the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors. While home prices did rise as compared to last May it's important to note that the only area that did see a rise in prices was foreclosures as short sales and non-lender mediated (traditional sellers) sales had price declines.
The market had 6,335 new listings come on in May. This is a 22.4% drop from May of 2009 and a 32.9% drop from May 2008.
The Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors started tracking pending home sales data back in 1997 and May 2010 gave us the lowest pending sales number on record. The Twin Cities real estate market had 3,910 signed agreements last month as compared to 5,183 in May 2009. The five year average for May pending sales is 4,808.
The tax credit continued to drive strong numbers for closed sales giving us 10.7% increase from 2009 and a 20% increase from 2008 to 4,463 closed sales in May 2010. Year to date the market has seen an 8.8% increase in closed sales from 2009 and a 17.1% increase from 2008 to 15,817 closed transactions in 2010.
As of May, total active listings are at 26,412 on the Minnesota MLS as compared to 26,674 last year at this time and 32,912 listings in May 2008.
The 30 year fixed mortgage rate in the Twin Cities region as of June 1st stood at 5.2% as compared to 5.8% in June 2009 and 6.6% in June 2008.
Many agents across the Twin Cities have noticed a sharp decline in showing activity on their listings post tax credit and many seem to feel the trend will continue. I know our office has seen a sharp drop in activity. Week over week as compared to April we have seen any where from a 20% to 40% drop in weekly showing activity. I think these sales numbers clearly show that the tax credit did not create any new buyers in the Twin Cities market and only hurried the existing buyers.
Nonetheless, for the buyers that are out there it is still a great time to take advantage of the low mortgage rates in today's affordable housing market.
