Twin Cities home sales down, listings up in May

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Sales of new and existing homes in the 13-county Twin Cities area were down slightly in May on a year-over-year basis, as new listings inched up during the same period, the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors said Thursday.

But Realtors say the inventory of homes for sale continues to be too low for the demand in the marketplace.
“We are really deficient in listings,” MAAR President Cotty Lowry said Thursday in an interview. “The market demand is there. We just don’t have the inventory.”

MAAR reported 6,246 closed sales in May, up substantially from 4,786 in April but still down 1.1 percent from May 2016. At the end of last month, 6,691 sales were pending, a 3.1 percent decrease from the previous May but 12 percent higher than the April total.

The Twin Cities saw 8,744 new listings in May, up 0.7 percent from the previous May and a 13 percent increase from April.

Homes are selling more quickly. On average, local homes were on the market 51 days from listing to sale, down from 60 days in May 2016 – a 15 percent decrease. Half of the homes sold in fewer than 20 days, according to MAAR.

Meanwhile, foreclosures and short sales are but a fraction of the activity. The “traditional market,” which doesn’t include distressed properties, now accounts for more than 96 percent of sales, Lowry said.

“Traditional new listings and sales continue to rise, despite the shortage of homes on the market,” Lowry said in a news release.

The metro area continues to see a tight supply of homes for sale. The inventory of homes for sale stood at 11,615 last month, down 17.3 percent from the previous May but slightly higher than the 11,322 homes on the market in April.

In July 2007, the metro area had 35,906 homes on the market – three times as many as there are in 2017, Lowry noted in an interview.

The median sales price was $250,000, up 5.5 percent from May 2016 and up slightly from $245,500 in April. Multiple offers on updated properties are common, and half of the sales closed for more than the list price, according to MAAR.

The metro area has 2.3 months of housing supply, which is the lowest May total since 2003, MAAR noted. MAAR considers a five- to six-month supply as a healthy market.

Source: Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors

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