Higher Price = Longer Market Time

It’s no secret that there are lots of upper bracket homes currently for sale in the Twin Cities.

Depending on your definition of “upper bracket” (mine is over $850k or so) and which part of town you’re talking about, the current supply of such homes ranges anywhere from 12 to 30 months.

However, I suspect that the foregoing supply overhang is exacerbated by a perception problem — namely, if you drive any number of upper bracket neighborhoods, you’re likely to see lots of “For Sale” signs.

While that’s partly due to inventory, it’s also due to the fact that upper bracket homes simply take longer to sell in any market.

Less Than Meets the Eye

So, while you’d expect to see the average $250k home on the market for 60-90 days, the equivalent market time for a $1.5 million home could easily be 12-15 months.

Now, take a couple $1 million-plus homes in close proximity, all with “For Sale” signs in front for a year or more . . . and suddenly the supply overhang looks worse than it really is.   

P.S.:  At least anecdotally, it does seem like more upper bracket homes are available for what Realtors call “one-time showings,” at least in part to avoid the perception of too-long market time.

About the author

Ross Kaplan has 19+ years experience selling real estate all over the Twin Cities. He is also a 12-time consecutive "Super Real Estate Agent," as determined by Mpls. - St. Paul Magazine and Twin Cities Business Magazine. Prior to becoming a Realtor, Ross was an attorney (corporate law), CPA, and entrepreneur. He holds an economics degree from Stanford.

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