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).

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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