For the week ending October 16, New Listings in the Twin Cities declined only 2.1 percent from the same week last year with 1,424 properties entering the market. That’s the smallest year-over-year decline in nine weeks, as the gap comparing last year’s performance with this continues to close.
Weekly Pending Sales are still stuck around the 600 mark. The 580 purchase agreements signed for the week translated into a 39.2 percent drop from last year at this time. That year-over-year decline is nothing new to regular followers of the Weekly Market Activity Report.
The real story continues to be the delicate balance between buyer and seller activity. As of October 25, the 26,606 active listings were 11.3 percent greater than the same week in 2009. For only the second time in the past 25 weeks, the magnitude of inventory growth is smaller than the previous week. In other words, the rate of inventory increase is decelerating. If it sounds like we’re scrounging for good news, we are. Even so, this shouldn’t be overlooked.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Weekly Market Report
Weekly Market Activity Report
As the mercury inches downward outside, grab your favorite hot beverage and let’s review the buyers and sellers weekly dance card. Bear in mind that current activity may look especially slow compared to last year’s tax-credit-induced performance.
For the week ending October 9, sellers continued to pick up their tempo by introducing 1,479 new listings to the marketplace. That’s only 4.1 percent fewer new homes than last year at this time, as the year-over-year comparison gap continues to narrow. Buyers danced to a slower beat. The 523 pending sales for the week were 44.8 percent fewer than last year. That’s the largest decline in 13 weeks.
With seller activity slowly returning and buyer activity remaining sluggish, inventory levels are still high. There were 26,866 active listings as of October 18. Keep a close watch on this metric, as it emphasizes the dynamic balance between supply and demand—the most critical forces affecting the market.
There is some good news in the mix. At 220, housing affordability is at an all-time high. The availability of low cost homes combined with low interest rates have created an extraordinary buying opportunity.
As the mercury inches downward outside, grab your favorite hot beverage and let’s review the buyers and sellers weekly dance card. Bear in mind that current activity may look especially slow compared to last year’s tax-credit-induced performance.
For the week ending October 9, sellers continued to pick up their tempo by introducing 1,479 new listings to the marketplace. That’s only 4.1 percent fewer new homes than last year at this time, as the year-over-year comparison gap continues to narrow. Buyers danced to a slower beat. The 523 pending sales for the week were 44.8 percent fewer than last year. That’s the largest decline in 13 weeks.
With seller activity slowly returning and buyer activity remaining sluggish, inventory levels are still high. There were 26,866 active listings as of October 18. Keep a close watch on this metric, as it emphasizes the dynamic balance between supply and demand—the most critical forces affecting the market.
There is some good news in the mix. At 220, housing affordability is at an all-time high. The availability of low cost homes combined with low interest rates have created an extraordinary buying opportunity.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Weekly Market Activity Report
In the Twin Cities metropolitan area, the frost that some of us found on our lawns also kept the housing market in a sort of frozen state. For the week ending September 25, sellers placed 1,382 new homes on the market, which was 19.9 percent fewer than last year at this time. Over the past three months, listing activity has been an average of 9.2 percent under last year's levels.
Buyer activity produced 41.7 percent fewer purchase agreements than last year at this time. There were 616 contracts signed, and as the graph on page 3 illustrates, Pending Sales are still mimicking last year's activity, except with roughly 400 fewer sales. For the three-month average, the decline rests at 39.0 percent below 2009 levels.
Be aware that we're in an apples-to-oranges comparison period since the tax credit was in force last year at this time. Year-over-year comparisons may appear artificially low due to a market incentive that no longer exists.
Inventory levels are a crucial metric to watch, as they tell the story of whether listings overwhelm the market during times of slow purchase demand. As of October 4, there were 26,915 active listings on the market, 9.8 percent more than the same week in 2009.
Buyer activity produced 41.7 percent fewer purchase agreements than last year at this time. There were 616 contracts signed, and as the graph on page 3 illustrates, Pending Sales are still mimicking last year's activity, except with roughly 400 fewer sales. For the three-month average, the decline rests at 39.0 percent below 2009 levels.
Be aware that we're in an apples-to-oranges comparison period since the tax credit was in force last year at this time. Year-over-year comparisons may appear artificially low due to a market incentive that no longer exists.
Inventory levels are a crucial metric to watch, as they tell the story of whether listings overwhelm the market during times of slow purchase demand. As of October 4, there were 26,915 active listings on the market, 9.8 percent more than the same week in 2009.
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