Home sales in Minnesota’s Twin Cities region fell for the second consecutive month in October, while year-to-date sales are ahead of the same period last year by 1.5 percent, according to the Saint Paul Area Association of Realtors.
Closed home sales in October lagged behind October 2003 by 10.3 percent, with 4,855 closed sales in the 13-county metro area compared to 5,410 in October 2003. To date, however, there have been 49,157 closed sales compared to 48,448 through October 2003.
The median sales price for homes in the Twin Cities held steady at $220,000 for the second month in a row, a 7.3 percent increase over the October 2003 median sales price of $204,950. Dollar volume of closed sales from January 2004 through October 2004 is 9 percent above the same period of 2003.
New listings added in October dropped from the previous month to 7,511. This is a 3.3 percent decrease in numbers over the same period last year, but more in line with the numbers seen over the past several years.
“It appears as if we are experiencing a seasonal correction in the Twin Cities housing market,” said John Lockner, president of the Saint Paul Area Association of Realtors. He added, “What we are likely to see is a more balanced market through the end of the year, even though the numbers indicate another record-breaking year.”
The outlying counties continued to be the biggest percentage gainers in new listings, pending sales, closed sales and median sales-price increase. Goodhue County posted the largest gain in pending sales and new listings at 38.6 percent and 30.3 percent, respectively. St. Croix County had the biggest increase in closed sales at 10.4 percent over October 2003. Rice County’s median sales price increased 22.6 percent over October 2003.
The Saint Paul Area Association of Realtors represents 4,000 members involved in all aspects of the real estate industry.
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