Twin Cities home prices jump 17% over last year
The median Twin Cities home price leapt to $208,757 last month, up about 17 percent from July of last year, the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors said Monday.
New listings rose about 25 percent over the year, though the supply of homes for sale is still tight, the group said in its monthly market report.
The mix of homes for sale continued to improve in July. Foreclosures and short sales made up 21 percent of all sales, down from 45 percent in 2011. Foreclosures and short sales tend to sell at fire sale prices and pull down the median sales price for the market. The shrinking share of distressed sales is helping to raise prices overall.
Sellers needed less time to close a deal in July. Homes sold in an average of 72 days. That's the quickest pace in six and a half years, the Realtors group said. And that's about how long it's been since sellers enjoyed getting such a high percentage of their original list price, which came in at nearly 98 percent last month. That could stem from two factors: sellers pricing their homes appropriately, and buyers bidding competitively on properties.
"Consumer demand has withstood marginal mortgage rate increases and traditional seller activity is on the mend," MAAR President-Elect Emily Green said in a statement.
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