Twin Cities metro home sellers are feeling a heat wave of their own
The Twin Cities housing market is doing about as well as it has in a decade.
Last month, the median sale price for residential properties reached a new all-time high for June, hitting $242,000.
The previous June high of $238,000 was in 2006.
Buyers closed on 7,094 homes. That's a slight uptick over last June, and it represented the most closed sales for any month in since 2004.
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Last month, sellers on average got almost 99 percent of their asking prices and their homes sold in less than two months.
Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors President Judy Shields says the rise in home prices is not driven by irrational expectations and lax lending standards, as it was a decade or so ago.
She insists the current housing market is grounded in sound fundamentals, including smarter lending standards, healthier household finances and rising rents.
"Prices returning to 2006 levels is nothing to fear," she said in a press release.
The supply of homes for sale dropped about 18 percent. That's not only pushing up prices of existing homes but also encouraging builders to put up more new homes.
Last month, area builders pulled the most housing permits in a single month since 2007. So far this year, builders have pulled about 2,500 permits.