Weekly Market Activity Report from MAAR

The Twin Cities housing market experienced its annual pre-Independence Day drop in activity as fireworks, barbeques and lake cabin excursions preoccupied the minds and schedules of many Twin Citizens. New listings took a steep dive prior to the holiday, dropping to 1,482 for the week ending July 4. This is an 8.3 percent decrease from the same week in 2008.

Pending sales also dropped to 989 for the week ending July 4. Fortunately, this stat is still a healthy 34.6 percent above where it was last year, when there were just 735 pending sales reported.

Further metric watching:

• Housing Affordability Index – 192. While astoundingly high, the index has dropped since January due to price rebounding and higher mortgage rates.
• Months Supply of Inventory – 7.3. This is a 31.1 percent decrease from the 10.6 figure posted last year at this time.

The market is showing signs of slowly moving back towards balance.