Jim Buchta of the Star Tribune published this story today regarding the latest sales data being reported for the month of February 2009 by the four area association’s of Realtors.
The Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors released this press release today. Key highlights are as follows:
- New Listings: “the number of new listings in February was 6,648, down 19.4 percent from February 2008. That’s the 14th month of the last 15 to feature fewer new listings than the same month one year prior.”
- Inventory Levels: “alongside the jump in sales seen over the last nine months, this decline in new listings has brought the total inventory of homes for sale down to 25,825—a drop of 13.5 percent and 4,017 units from this time last year. Given the current rate of sales, this amounts to 7.8 months of supply, down from 9.2 months a year ago.”
- Pending Sales: “there were 3,314 pending sales in February, up 7.4 percent from last year. That’s the ninth consecutive month of year-over-year increase. Of these newly signed purchase agreements, 60.5 percent were lender-mediated foreclosures or short sales. Closed sales finished at 2,070, up 3.0 percent.”
- Median Price: the overall February median sales price of $150,000 is 23.1 percent lower than last February. Traditional properties, which exclude foreclosures and short sales, had a February median sales price of $205,875, down 5.2 percent from last year. For the same year-over-year comparison, lender-mediated homes had a median sales price of $125,000, down 20.6 percent.”
60.5% of pending sales in February were lender-mediated (i.e. short sales or foreclosures). Wow!