Wednesday, April 22, 2009

April 2009 Skinny Update

Click here and get the Skinny on the April 2009 Twin Cities Housing Market:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKGPtUsWvXo

Dance Like Nobody's Watching

Weekly Market Activity Report

Hopeful signs of a Twin Cities housing market recovery carry on thanks to a combination of no growth in the spring supply of homes for sale and still-improving sales figures.
Helping to keep inventory down is slow new listing activity, a metric that has been sluggish all year. For the week ending April 11, there were 20.7 percent fewer new listings than there were during the same week in 2008. Pending sales are still trending in the opposite direction, up 21.9 percent in year-over-year numbers to 1,046 for the week. That's only the second week of 1,000-plus pending sales or more since May 2007. If these two metrics persist, the market could be in for some serious re-balancing.
With the Housing Affordability Index reaching 218—an increase of 40.8 percent over last year—it seems to be an awfully good time for buyers to get off the wall and on the dance floor...being mindful that 29.1 percent of the dance partners are lender-mediated.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

There is a Silver Lining

For the week ending March 21, pending sales in the Twin Cities were 13.0 percent higher than the same week last year, while the number of new listings on the market was basically flat. Over the last three months, there have been approximately 1,200 more signed purchase agreements than there were a year ago and 3,000 fewer new listings. During this time, 58.1 percent of pending sales have been lender-mediated foreclosures and short sales, while 37.1 percent of new listings have been lender-mediated. The fact that the share of lender-mediated sales easily exceeds the share of new lender-mediated listings is a hopeful sign.
New buyers entering this market will be met with strong affordability but will have less to choose from compared to previous years. There are currently 26,064 homes for sale in the metro area, which is down 15.7 percent and 4,840 units from this time in 2008.