Listing Inventory: How Many Months’ Supply? It takes a little deciphering, but those four numbers represent how many months of housing supply are currently available in St. Louis Park, Southwest Minneapolis, Golden Valley, and Minnetonka, respectively. The significance? All four of those markets are well below the 4-6 months considered indicative of a “balanced” housing...Read More
Anatomy of a Tear-Down, 2008 vs. 2013 As the listing agent marketing 2810 Glenhurst Ave. in St. Louis Park’s Fern Hill neighborhood last Winter, I suggested that prospective home buyers who couldn’t find what they were looking for instead . . . create it. See, “Create Your Dream Home on Fern Hill’s Glenhurst Ave.” Fast forward 8 months . . ....Read More
State of the Twin Cities Housing Market: Aiming at a Moving Target Yours truly — and this blog — got a nice plug in the current (November) issue of Mpls – St. Paul magazine. In an article titled, “The Great Uptick,” Molly Priesmeyer asks: Is the Twin Cities housing market in full recovery? It depends on...Read More
Halloween Scream? Not This Year After almost touching 5%(!) barely a month ago, interest rates on a 30-year mortgage for well-qualified borrowers have dropped almost a full point, to just above 4%. Jumbo loan rates are even lower. Chalk that up to 3 reasons: 1) the debt ceiling has been raised, however temporarily; 2) the...Read More
“Why Isn’t My House Selling If the Market’s So Hot?!?” If you estimate — as most Realtors do — that the mainstream media (“MSM”) lags the housing market by 3-4 months, what do you suppose the real estate headline(s) will be in early 2014? That Buyers have become scarcer and more cautious. That’s particularly the...Read More
Maybe It’s the Other Way Around “New construction often brings down the value of older homes, which wear out and go out of fashion, dragging down prices.” –Robert J. Shiller, “Housing Market is Heating Up, If Not Yet Bubbling”; The New York Times (9/29/2013) It’s a classic glass half full/half empty debate: housing bears such...Read More
