RE/MAX has put out the National Housing Report for June 2013.  For 17 months in a row now, home sales and prices have been higher than for the same month the previous year! The Housing Report surveyed 52 different Metropolitan areas to get their data.  Click here for a full copy of the report!

For the week ending March 29, mortgage applications for home purchases were up almost 7%, but this was most likely driven by the increased cost of an FHA mortgage starting April 1.  Overall mortgage applications for home purchases are up about 4% over last year, while refinancing applications are starting to decline.  With the increases in home sales the 4% increase in mortgage applications is to be expected. Refinancing applications are also expected to decline as interest rates slowly start to inch upwards.

Housing market stats for 2012 are still rolling in and I have a few more that are specific to the Twin Cities area from Herb Tousley of the University of St. Thomas.  In 2012, the average price of a sold home in the Twin Cities went up about 10%. In the height of the housing crisis there were about 20,000 homes on the market in the Twin Cities, but at the end of 2012, there ware only about 14,000.  The other positive number is that of distressed properties which made up some 55-60% of homes sold on the market in the height of the housing crisis and now make up about 40%.  While this number is still high, it is significantly lower than it was and is continuing on its downward trend.  The signs are all pointing to a good year in real estate in 2013.

Here we are getting ready for sub zero temperatures and we need to start thinking about the spring market. Spring is just around the corner and if you plan to have you home ready to sell when it starts you should most likely be getting ready now.  I would be happy to do a market for you so we can discuss the current, improved market conditions and how that may positively impact your ability to sell your home.

The following statistics are from the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors:

In the Twin Cities region, for the week ending January 5:

• New Listings decreased 34.6% to 832
• Pending Sales increased 12.7% to 594
• Inventory decreased 31.1% to 12,000

For the month of December:

• Median Sales Price increased 16.2% to $168,452
• Days on Market decreased 23.4% to 108
• Percent of Original List Price Received increased 3.5% to 93.8%
• Months Supply of Inventory decreased 42.0% to 2.9