At least the numbers I promised last week. They do tell a story and they tell some lies too. The story they tell is that the lowest priced homes, mostly foreclosures continue to sell at a brisk pace. The lies have to do with the average actual sales prices. The prices are right but they can be misleading considering that 60% of the homes on the market are foreclosures and the banks continue with the clearance sale. It is difficult to find a home that is in good shape for last months average sale price of $114,193, especially with a garage and at least 1400 square feet of finished living space.. . appliances and roofs are also nice to have.
The neighborhoods with the greatest number of foreclosures also saw the greatest number of sales and the fewest number of new listings. It is a spring market and traditional the number of sales and the number of listings go up this time of year. What is interesting to me is that there are 50% fewer homes on the market today than there were last August.
The inventory is dropping each month and for the first time in a very long time the number of homes that were put on the market and the number that received offers is pretty close to the same. In 2007 we saw increases in the number of homes on the market each month and a decrease in the number of buyers until the perfect housing crash was created. We seem to be slowly working our way out of it, just in time for the next wave of foreclosures. The average sale price for St. Paul is up slightly from last month. I have not seen any increase in the average price when I have looked at these numbers for a couple of years.
The foreclosures are being absorbed but the rest of the housing on the market is not selling so quickly. Currently there are 1754 homes on the market in St. Paul, MN with an average list price of $205,731.
In addition to the foreclosures I am seeing some bargains in new construction. Several of the local townhouse and condo projects have just a few new units left to sell and have reduced the prices significantly. This might be a good time to buy a new condo or townhouse, for those who are in a position to buy and can live with the idea that they may not appreciate in value for a few years.
The data used to make the chart is gathered from the MLS. The data in the MLS is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. This data is for March of 2009 for single family homes which includes condos, in the city of St. Paul, MN. Homes that are pending have had offers made on them, and those offers have been accepted by the seller but the sale and has not yet closed. The number of pending sales is used as a measure of the over all health of the housing market.
Click here for numbers from previous months.
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Hello from “the Willis Team” we enjoy seeing your information on your area. We do a lot of analysis as well.
Thanks
I think the info you have summarized is extremely insightful! Appreciate reading about what is happing in my birth town!
Thanks for providing us this info, please keep up this great work
Yes, I see similar stable signals that we are slowly on the way out of financial crisis. Inventory decrease (quick and bargain) and normal families-buyers are more active on the market.
Thanks for your information,keep it up.
I enjoy this analysis, I wish you to keep up this amazing work