August Market Statistics

The Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors released its new version of the weekly report recently and I love all the new data and breakouts by price and style.  It really helps you look into the data further to see what’s happening on a sector-by-sector basis.

Here’s this week’s report:
MAAR Weekly Statistics - August 21, 2006

While these numbers are great, it can also be helpful to look at the market as a whole in summary:

AUGUST 2006 CURRENT RMLS STATISTICS MARKET UPDATE

69       Average days on market

45%    More listing on the market than 1 year ago totaling 60663.

35%    Of the inventory that has sold in last 30 days has had a price adjustment

5.3    Months Absorption Rate=the time it would take for all the listings to sell if no more homes were put on the market

6      For every sale that takes place, there are 6 more homes that haven’t sold 
 
36     Showings for every home that sells (From Edina Realty appt center statistics)

Posted by Aaron Dickinson - Edina Realty on 08-25-2006 at 12:08 am
Posted in General, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers with 0 Comments

Prices Are Officially Flat

As we near Fall in the Twin Cities, we’ve now entered a new stage in the housing market we have not seen for many years: the Average Selling Price is now unchanged from last year at this time.

In recent years we have seen a large runup in Average Sales Price during the spring and summer months.  This year was marked by much smaller gains, which has lead to us “catching up” with last year’s price.  While this means that sellers cannot expect any appreciation in their home over last year, it also means for sellers that are moving up that their future home will not cost as much as they expected.

This is not a sign of a bursting bubble, this is only a continued ease in the housing market that is bringing more historically common market times and appreciation back into the market.  We’ve been cooling off for several years now and this has sharply reduce the chances for a dramatic price drop.

Posted by Aaron Dickinson - Edina Realty on 08-25-2006 at 12:08 am
Posted in General, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers with 1 Comment

Mortgage Rates Take a Dip

Over the last several weeks the rates I’ve seen quoted from my loan officers have dropped from 6.75% to 6.375%.  On a loan of $200,000 that can save about $60 per month, or give you approximately $8000 more buying power for the same monthly payment.

While this rate drop is a pleasant surprise, buyers should not expect it to continue to drop or to stay this low for very long.  Most professionals in the industry expect rates to resume their slowly upward climb and reach 7% near the end of the year.  Think of this as a great reason to get out and buy a house this week!

Posted by Aaron Dickinson - Edina Realty on 08-01-2006 at 02:08 pm
Posted in General, Info for Buyers with 0 Comments