October Twin Cities median home price drops 9 percent from 2010

Talk about it

ST. PAUL

Despite another monthly jump in sales, the Twin Cities median home price declined 9 percent to $155,000 in October from a year earlier.

The Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors reported today that closed sales rose 32 percent to 3,514 last month from October 2010.

Pending sales, an indicator of future activity, rose 35 percent to 3,492 last month from a year ago.

Foreclosures and short sales remain a high proportion of the local housing market. In October, 44 percent of pending sales were lender-mediated.

Traditional sale prices fell 12 percent to $190,000; foreclosure prices dropped 11 percent to $102,000, and short sale prices declined 18 percent to $127,750.

Meanwhile, the inventory of available homes has dropped to 24,145, the lowest October mark since 2004 and a decline of more than 6,000 listings from this time last year.

The improving supply-demand balance means that sellers are starting to receive closer to their original asking price for the third consecutive month -- up slightly from a year ago to 91 percent last month.

"We believe that many consumers are playing a waiting game for their home values to improve before considering selling again," said Cari Linn, the association's president-elect, in a statement. "That's certainly a logical decision, especially as winter approaches, but there's a lot less competition for buyers than there used to be."

Distributed by MCT Information Services

Tags: real estate, twin cities, updates, housing, minnesota, business, consumers, money