The Twin Cities housing market is well into its annual winter holiday pause. New listings have been minimal, yet total inventory of homes for sale remains at record levels and the number of sellers continues to far outweigh the number of buyers. Conservative lending standards and decreased consumer confidence seem to be keeping home buyers away despite low mortgage rates, motivated sellers, improved housing affordability and great housing stock.
Over the last three months, newly signed purchase agreements have declined by 20.0 percent from the same period in 2006 and 34.3 percent since 2005. Meanwhile, new listings have declined by only 1.8 percent. The number of homes for sale has dropped 5,000 units in the last 12 weeks but remains 12.9 percent higher than this time last year.
The forecast calls for improved buyer activity, but it will likely take more than a year of gradual increases before comparisons to today's buying market are quantifiable. MAR is creating a 2007 summary and 2008 outlook of the Twin Cities housing market as part of our Residential Real Estate Summit to be held on Wednesday, January 16, from 8:00 a.m. to noon at the Earle Brown Heritage Center, 6155 Earle Brown Drive, Brooklyn Center.
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