Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Weekly Market Activity Report from MAAR

We trust that you had a good May Day, International Worker's Day or early Cinco de Mayo celebration. Whatever your cause for celebration, the Twin Cities housing market did not take a holiday. During the week ending April 25, pending sales posted their fourth consecutive week of more than 1,000 sales, a feat not accomplished since 2006. The 1,078 sales represent a 34.1 percent increase over the same week last year.


Supply remains a different story. New listings were hitting the market at a robust pace last spring, but activity has been comparatively tepid this year. New listings are 16.4 percent behind one year ago and the overall supply of homes for sale trails last year by 19.0 percent. We have remained near 26,000 homes for sale for most of this year, betraying the healthy seasonal growth we typically see this time of year.


Yes, supply is down, but there's still plenty of inventory out there. April's showers are behind us, the Housing Affordability Index is stratospherically healthy, low mortgage rates persist, and a first-time buyer tax credit remains in effect. At this clip, your buyers could certainly find May flowers blooming in front of their newly purchased homes.

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