A look Back on a Decade of home values

This is the last Monday of the Year and the last Monday of the decade so I thought some numbers would be nice.   I love numbers.  These were gathered from our MLS and are for non-commercial residential real estate in St. Paul, Minnesota from 2001 through all but the last week of 2011.  The data is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed but you get to see it for free.

The first chart shows the average sale price by year of homes in St. Paul.  You can watch them go up, and then back down again and up again.  We ended the decade with lower home prices than we started with. (To make the chart larger click on it)

2001 2011W

2001- 2011 average home prices St. Paul, MN

The recession ended in June of 2009 and it is possible that 2009 is also the year housing prices hit bottom.  In 2001 the average home cost $161,139 and this year the average is $149,369.

The second chart shows volume.  I like to look at the number of home sales along with home prices to get a more accurate picture of the market. 

2001 2011volumew
2001 2011 Number of Home Sales

I thought this chart was kind of interesting.  Home sales went way up last year when prices hit bottom and in 2009 we saw the greatest number of foreclosures on the market.

At this point I should make a prediction for next year.  I will predict that home prices will go up slightly.   I am still trying to decide if the number of home sales will go up.  The buying activity we saw in the middle of the decade was unusual.  My hunch is the number of home sales will remain at the level we saw this year. 

This week I will be writing about the past and the future.  I am not only a Realtor but I also own a home in St. Paul.  My interest in these numbers is personal and professional.

For more local numbers see local market conditions and home prices.