Bare Cupboards, or
“Yes, We Have No Bananas”
The big story in the Twin Cities housing market this year — besides infinitesimal interest rates and firming if not rising prices in many neighborhoods — is the lean inventory (hmm . . . do you suppose there’s a connection amongst all those things?).
Metro-wide, listings are at a seven-year low, down to 17,000 or so units from almost 30,000.
In my office, Edina Realty City Lakes, the drop in inventory is even more dramatic: from 212 listings a year ago to 112 today.
Extrapolating from these conditions, you’d predict a couple of things: 1) Sellers will test higher asking prices in the months to come (and especially next Spring); 2) Realtors will be aggressively marketing to prospective Sellers; and 3) eventually, more inventory will be forthcoming, as owners reconsider sitting tight (as many have become accustomed to doing), and fewer homeowners find themselves “underwater” (i.e., when a home’s market value is less than the mortgage(s) on it).