Buyers still chasing limited number of affordable homes
As the fall season arrived, September closed sales of residential homes in Minnesota declined 8.4% compared to last year. Correspondingly, new listings fell 8.5% over last year and pending sales were down 15.3%. Responding to the lean inventory, buyers competed for limited housing stock, reducing the average time homes stayed on the market to just 27 days, a 34.1% decrease over last September. Sellers received 100.4% of their asking price for homes, a 1.2% increase. The overall number of homes for sale shrank 19.8% to 12,618, and the months supply of homes was down 23.8% to only 1.6 months supply.
“Due to the extremely high number of closed sales in 2020, we’ve been expecting this year’s numbers to be lower for the last four months and the September numbers reflect that trend,” said Chris Galler, CEO of Minnesota Realtors. “So, while this year’s gains in closed sales may only be single digits, during a two-year period it’s been a gain of more than 20%, which is pretty astounding.”
Galler noted that looking back since 2019, the median home price has also averaged a double-digit increase, and continues to rise as demand outpaces supply.
September year-over-year summary of key market indicators:
- Closed sales decreased 8.4% to 8,997
- Median sales price increased 10.8% to $310,000
- Average sales price increased 10.0% to $354,426
- New listings decreased 8.5% to 9,957
- Pending sales decreased 15.3% to 8,050
- Days on the market decreased 34.1% to 27 days
- Homes for sale decreased 19.8% to 12,618
Closed Home Sales Across Minnesota by Region
Closed sales were down across the state with 11 regions reporting declines compared to September 2020. In five regions, declines were in the single digits, including the seven-county Twin Cities which was down -6.7%. Eight regions saw double-digit declines, with the greatest declines in: Northwest at -27.9%, West Central at -18.5%, and East Central at -16.7%. See the chart below for more details comparing closed home sales for September 2021 to September 2020.
The seven-county Twin Cities region comprises Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott and Washington counties. The official Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington metropolitan statistical area recognized by the Census Bureau consists of 16 counties, on which MAR & SPAAR local associations report.
