Housing market is slowly getting better in MN

Weekly Market Activity Report

The big letdown in home sales that many of us have expected following the recent drops in consumer confidence has yet to materialize in the Twin Cities housing market. For the week ending October 25, there were 602 pending sales, up 17.1 percent over the same week last year. Despite the uncertainties swirling in the general economy, home sales continue to post year-over-year increases every week. Lender-mediated sales continue to grow market share, as 51.1 percent of pending sales for the most recent reporting week were foreclosures or short sales, which should mean continued declines in median sales prices.

New listings for the same week were down 2.0 percent from the same week in 2007, and the total number of active homes for sale is down by 9.2 percent year-over-year.

This week's edition of the MAAR Weekly Market Activity Report features an updated Supply-Demand Ratio for November of 10.72, which means that there will be approximately 10.72 houses for every buyer during the month of November. This is down 13.9 percent from November 2007's figure of 12.45.