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Minneapolis Star Tribune: Minneapolis Metro Housing Market Has Best National Gain in Home Prices

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

As the Minneapolis Association of Area Realtors (MAAR) data has come in, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune is reporting in this article, the Twin Cities’ 4.6 percent rise in home prices in July was the best among the top 20 markets monitored by the Case-Shiller Index.

July 2009 was the largest month-to-month rise in home prices (over June) that we have seen in over a decade. July was the third consecutive monthly gain in the Minneapolis/St. Paul housing market.

The article goes on to point out how consumer confidence is closely tied to losses and gains in the housing market (I’m quite certain we’re all aware of this by now), and how the good news is somewhat relative, as even though we are currently up, August is a tougher month than July was, and that overall we are down a long ways from the very untenable highs we had 4 years ago.

More to be revealed…

Posted in Edina Homes, Edina Housing Market Update, Great Minneapolis Neighborhoods, Homes for sale Minneapolis, Minneapolis Market Update Links, Minneapolis Realtor, Mortgage, Lending, Refinance, Real Estate, Southwest Minneapolis Homes | No Comments »

Miami Housing Market Condominium Boom Rebound?

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

This article, from Channel 4 News out of Miami, shows us something that is inevitable, and bound to happen: that which goes up, must come down, and that which goes up really high and fast, must come down really low and fast, and again, that which comes down really low and fast…is seen as a great opportunity for investors!

It appears that with the continual decline in the Miami condo market (perhaps one of the if not the worst hit real estate markets in the country), investors have been watching and waiting for the opportunity to get back into this market. Like when gold drops to below $300, or oil below $55 per barrel, when condos in good locations drop to very low numbers, the investors re-enter the market. I suspect this time though, their reasoning is much more sound. Eventually commodities get so low in acquisition price, that savvy investors seem to simultaneously think, ‘opportunity’!

One complex alone has sold more than 120 units in 6 weeks time.

I have been seeing something on a much smaller scale, but yet somewhat similar in the Southwest Minneapolis, downtown Minneapolis and Uptown Minneapolis condo markets: Very low pricing (primarily due to short sales and foreclosures…due to a condo glut thanks to overbuilding and apartment conversions), and now somewhat of a buying frenzy for condos in good locations, under $150K. Howver, most of these buyers are not investors, but smart first-time homebuyers.

Either way, it is good to see them being bought, which to me is one more indicator of an at or near bottom for the lower-end, or ‘chaff’ markets.

Posted in Edina Housing Market Update, Edina Realty, Homes for sale Minneapolis, Minneapolis Market Update Links, Minneapolis Realtor | No Comments »

Deutsche Bank Predicting Half of All Mortgages to be Underwater by 2011

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

Predictions on the condition of the mortgage market vary, sometimes greatly. In this article Deutsche Bank – one of the world’s leading powerhouse banking and investment institutions – is predicting that about half of all U.S. mortgages will be underwater (owing more than their home is worth) by the first quarter of 2011. This is to include ‘Prime’ loans as well, not just ‘subprime.’

Whereas I can see the  possibility of this in certainly markets, this would not be a universal, across the board mortgage crisis. Some metro areas are in much better shape than others. For example: the Detroit and Las Vegas areas will be offsetting the curve a great deal (in the negative), while other areas such as the Minneapolis area housing market, or the Dallas and Salt Lake City Housing markets are in much better shape.

It will be quite interetsting to see how this plays out, and I certainly hope Deutsche Bank is wrong in their prognostication for early 2011.

My advice if you are buying a home in the Minneapolis area housing market: if you can (depending on your price-point), buy your next home in Southwest Minneapolis, Edina and sometimes West Bloomington areas.

Posted in Edina Homes, Edina Housing Market Update, Edina Realtor, Edina Realty, Homes for sale Minneapolis, Minneapolis Homes, Minneapolis Market Update Links, Minneapolis Realtor, Mortgage, Lending, Refinance, Real Estate, Realtor Edina, Southwest Minneapolis Homes, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Money Magazine Best Places to Live: Minnesota Has 4 of the Top 100

Monday, July 20th, 2009

The August 2009 issue of Money Magazine is out with their annual ranking of ‘Best Places to Live’ in the United States. 4 Minnesota cities have been included in this list. The midwest has a high share, with Minnesota and Wisconsin cites alone taking up almost 10% of the entire list.

These cities are; #2) Chanhassan, MN, #20) Chasaka, MN #36) Lino Lakes, MN., #97) Owatonna, MN.

With the exception of Owatonna, the remaining 3 representing Minnesota, are all suburbs of the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area (2nd and 3rd tier).

Other nearby cities on the list are; #4) Middleton, WI., #34) New Berlin, WI., #42) Urbandale, IA., #61) Pewaukee, WI., #62) Ankeny, IA., #76) Germantown, WI., #78) Waunakee, WI., #80) Bettendorf, IA., #81) West Fargo, N.D., (yes, Fargo does have a suburb, and as I am quite familiar with West Fargo, I can say that West Fargo has come a long, long way in the past 25 years).  Yes, Wisconsin has 5 on the list.

I also saw that Nebraska scored 3 on the list as well – Papillion, Columbus (I lived here when I was 4 and 5 years old) and Norfolk.

Although I don’t agree with 2 aspects of the criteria selected (one is ridiculously politically correct and quite unnecessary), the rest of the criteria is based upon size,  median income, quality of life, property taxes and unemployment rates etc.,  the rest of the criteria is general, and makes sense.

Of course Minnesota has a disproportionate share of homes in the top 100.

Very cool!

Posted in Edina Homes, Edina Realty, Great Edina Neighborhoods, Great Minneapolis Neighborhoods, Homes for sale Minneapolis, Minneapolis Homes, Minneapolis Market Update Links, Real Estate, Southwest Minneapolis Homes | No Comments »

Homes For Sale Minneapolis, Market Update

Friday, June 26th, 2009

According to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors (MAAR) for week ending 06/26/2009, we have further positive data that our market – in many areas – has positive news. Inventory continues to decline (a total of 33,435 in our metro area, down 19.7% from this same point, last year), pending sales continues to rise (up 33% over this same point, last year), the decline of the percent of the original list price received at sale seems to be stabilizing (-1.2% from last year, for a total of 91.5% of original list price)  the housing affordability index continues to trend toward better affordability, total days on market until a sale is down 7.3% (to 147, from 159 at this point last year), supply-to-demand ratio is down from last year, from 7.57, to 5.04 houses per buyer and the months of inventory is down to 7.6 from 10.4.

Of course, this is all in the general sense. Some area are actually stabilizing and some areas will continue to see further depreciation (some 2nd and 3rd tier suburbs), however, these are all continued, encouraging signs of general stabilization in the Minneapolis housing market.

Posted in Edina Homes, Great Minneapolis Neighborhoods, Homes for sale Minneapolis, Minneapolis Market Update Links, Real Estate | No Comments »

Homes in Minneapolis: Update on Home Sales Activity

Friday, June 12th, 2009

More good news on the housing market front for the Minneapolis housing market: New listings are continually declining in our market, which is one of the keys to recovery. While there are many other factors, a glut of homes on the market is always detrimental. We are finally down in new listings for the entire year, after a continual increase during the previous 7 years. 1,566 homes went on the market last week, vs. 1,752 during this same week, last year. Our peak week this year was week ending 05/09, with 2,058 (the comparable peak week the year prior was 2,380 new listings). So we are down -10.6% in new listings this week over last year. As our Minneapolis/St. Paul housing market has seen this trend for the entire year, I believe this is encouraging news. 

Our supply vs. demand ratio for 06/09  has also come down to 5.04 homes for every active home-buyer, compared with 1 year ago in June 2008, when we had 7.57 homes for every active home-buyer.

Let’s hope this trend continues.

Posted in Edina Homes, Edina Housing Market Update, Minneapolis Market Update Links, Mortgage, Lending, Refinance, Real Estate | No Comments »

Homes in Edina: Sold Housing-Market Data YTD

Saturday, June 6th, 2009

I went through the MLS market data for all single family sold’s in the Edina housing market. What I I found was some interesting data. Broken-down, there are several important indicators, of which are:

1) Total single family homes sold (closed) through June 6th, 2009 (the halfway point of the year) are 94, with an additional 63 ‘pending’ (sold, but not yet closed). Total pending including condos and townhomes are 97.

2) Remaining stats: Average sales price for single-family homes is $533,727, average days on market – 126.8, average beds/baths – 3.76/2.93, average price per square foot – $174.06 (with East Edina @ $200 per/sq. ft. and West Edina @ $155 per/sq. ft.)

3) The lowest-priced home that has sold in Edina year to date is $129,900, and the most expensive home sold in Edina so far for 2009 closed/sold @ $2,600,000.

4) 15 of these sold, single family homes in Edina were registered on the MLS as ‘in foreclosure’ – or ‘lender mediated’ (One was in the $900′s, and another in the $800′s). However, not all agents input or update this data correctly, so I think it is safe to assume that at least a couple more were lender-mediated properties in Edina. Obviously this will also tilt the average sales price down a bit.

What does this mean? It appears that home sales in Edina are somewhat sluggish, but not bad, all things considered. Homes are certainly selling, and some of them are definitely on the higher-end, but with the lower interest rates and first-time home-buyer tax-credit incentive, the market is certainly lopsided toward the lower-end for Edina: the under $400K-priced homes are currently dominating sales, thus tilting the average sales price down a bit from last year (which had high-priced condos and townhomes tilting the average sales price up).

What I am noticing with my buyers is that there are a fair amount of homes on the market in Edina, but many of them being mediocre in quality. What we are still seeing is that when a good or great home comes on the market, that is priced reasonably, it sells for a good price and sells quickly. Buyers are out there, but they want to perceive that value is there.

Posted in Edina Homes, Edina Housing Market Update, Great Edina Neighborhoods, Minneapolis Market Update Links, Real Estate | No Comments »

Southwest Minneapolis and Edina Housing Market Recap W.E. 05/17/2009

Monday, May 18th, 2009

While looking through the sales stats for the Southwest Minneapolis and Edina housing market, I find a few bits of encouraging news. Some of this news is for the Minneapolis/St. Paul housing market in general, but I will break it down.

Edina: New listings are down. Inventory is down, mortgage rates are again down. Also, housing prices (recent sales only) are down in April ’09, compared with April ’08. At first glance, one might think that the prices in Edina are falling. In most cases, this is not true. True, higher-priced homes in Edina have taken a hit (sluggish upper-bracket sales), but the average home in decent shape still sells for a premium, and usually fairly quickly. Also, there has been a rush to purchase the lower-end homes in Edina, primarily due to the very low interest rates, and the government-backed first-time home buyer incentives. This has skewed the averages across the entire metro market. Average days on market before a sale on a home in Edina is currently about 144.

Southwest Minneapolis: Pretty much the same situation as Edina, with the average days on market time before a sale being about 113. This is pretty dang good, considering the entire Minneapolis metro housing market has an average of 7.5 (about 245 days) months of supply. At the higher-end of the market ($1 Million-plus) the current supply/inventory is about 28 months.

What these stats do show, is that Southwest Minneapolis and Edina are still the 2 best places to buy a home in the entire Minneapolis/St. Paul housing market.

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Posted in Edina Homes, Great Edina Neighborhoods, Great Minneapolis Neighborhoods, Minneapolis Market Update Links, Real Estate, Uncategorized | No Comments »

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