Show me some good news...
March 1, 2009When we continue to hear all of the negative news about housing across the country, it’s easy to forget that real estate is and always will be a local business. What’s happening on a national scale doesn’t always reflect what’s happening right here in the Twin Cities.
To illustrate this point, I want to draw your attention to this month’s Activity Report compiled by the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors (MAAR). According to their data, we are starting to see some bright spots in our 13 county metropolitan area.
MAAR keeps track of three leading indicators that directly relate to the housing inventory available for sale. Those indicators are: New Listings just coming on the market; Pending Listings which are those listings waiting to close and Existing Listings which is the total number of active listings on the market. The good news is that all three of these indicators are moving in the right direction. Looking at the last three month average for each indicator and comparing it to one year ago, New Listings are down by 11.3% and Pending Listings are up by 19.9%. This results in 10.1% fewer Existing Listings on the market.
What does it all mean? One of the biggest challenges facing the housing market is the amount of inventory available for sale. Simply put, we have too many houses and not enough buyers. Therefore, any news that inventory levels are decreasing is considered to be a very positive sign!
