Although home sales in Minnesota’s Twin Cities region fell 11 percent in September from the same month a year ago, sales for the first three quarters exceeded the same period last year, according to the Saint Paul Area Association of Realtors.
Closed sales for September 2004 totaled 5,256, down 11 percent from the September 2003 figure of 5,908. Median sale price continued to exceed 2003 levels, settling in at $220,000 for September 2004.
Overall, closed sales during the first three quarters were up 3.1 percent at 44,359 compared to 43,020 in the same period of 2003. Median sale price for the first nine months of 2004 continued to move ahead of the same period last year by 8.5 percent. Dollar volume of home sales reached $11.2 billion year-to-date, up 10.5 percent over the first nine months of 2003.
New listings for September reached 9,042, an increase of 11.9 percent over the same period last year. “Inventory in the metro is higher than we have been accustomed to recently,” according to John Lockner, president of the Saint Paul Area Association of Realtors. “The effect on Realtors is that the market feels slower than what we have experienced in the past.”
The two biggest gainers in new listings for September were the outlying counties of Rice at 53.4 percent and Goodhue at 36.8 percent. Sherburne and Goodhue were the only two counties showing an increase in closed sales for the month at 23.2 percent and 19.2 percent, respectively.
The Saint Paul Area Association of Realtors represents 4,000 members involved in all aspects of the real estate industry.
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