John Murphy Reports

The Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors just published the latest weekly report for the week of December 8, 2008 and one of the more interesting data points is the continual drop in the percentage that sellers are receiving when they sell their homes.  This is a factor of the market, but as well as the agent and seller starting the home out too high in this marketplace.

Given that sellers are now receiving 90% of their original listing price only confirms for me that most homes on the market are still about 10% overpriced.  The sellers who are selling know it as well as they are accepting offers 10% lower than their initial asking price.  Buyers will not over pay for houses in today’s market.

Below are some charts from the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors:  (Click on image to enlarge)

The table below shows the continual downward trend over the past two years.  This is a reflection of agents and sellers still being unrealistic with original asking prices.

For an indepth dicussion and analysis on pricing see these two entries below:

• Price Reductions: How Soon Should a Seller Reduce the Asking Price?
• Pricing Property in Today’s Declining Market

The rise in distressed sale properties will continue to put pricing pressure on sellers.  Those who get out in front of the market will not only be successful by selling their property, but they will have a much better experience as well.  Just because a home is listed with an agent does not guarantee it will sell.  Depending upon the area, 40-50% of the homes listed do not sell.

Here’s the latest report from the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors:

Weekly Market Activity Report

As we mentioned last week, the presence of Thanksgiving in our reporting dates is throwing off the weekly numbers considerably for last week and this week. After last week’s numbers showed massive increases in listings and sales over last year, this week’s numbers predictably show large decreases. For the week ending November 29, new listings fell by 45.2 percent compared to last year, while pending sales fell by 20.5 percent. Check back next week when we return to a more reliable year-over-year comparison.

This week’s edition of the Weekly Market Activity Report features updated figures for some important metrics. The Housing Affordability Index shot up 19 points to 180 thanks to the recent healthy declines in mortgage interest rates and a continued softening in home prices; the HAI has not been this attractive since we began tracking data in 1990. Days on Market Until Sale grew to 149, nearly dead-even with last year, while Percent of Original List Price Received at Sale fell to 90.1 percent. The Months Supply of Inventory slipped to 8.5 months, and has dropped 19 percent since August’s showing of 10.5 months. This is 8.6 percent lower than at this time last year.