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Community Corner

Housing Market Looking Up in Apple Valley, Rosemount

The Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors' local market update for September shows signs of sales growth.

The housing market in Apple Valley and Rosemount is looking up.

According to Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors’ local market update for September, sale prices and the number of closed sales were higher in both cities as compared to September 2011 statistics.

Find out what's happening in Apple Valley-Rosemountwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

APPLE VALLEY STATISTICS
The median and average sales prices of homes in Apple Valley last month were dramatically different than the same time last year, the update says. The median sales price of $195,500 was 32.7 percent higher than September 2011, and the average price of $208,875 was 29.1 percent more. There were 72 closed sales last month, compared to 63 a year ago.

Other positive signs for the city’s real estate market were increases in price per square foot ($94 last month, as compared to $82 a year ago) and percentage of the original list price received (95.6 percent, as compared to 91.1 percent).

Find out what's happening in Apple Valley-Rosemountwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The average days that a home stays the market dropped from 117 days in September 2011 to 80 days last month. In addition, months supply of inventory decreased from 5.4 months in September 2011 to 2.9 months last month.

So far this year, 634 home sales closed in Apple Valley, as compared to 533 over the same period in 2011.

Click here to see Apple Valley’s market update for September.

ROSEMOUNT STATISTICS
Rosemount’s September home sale statistics are impressive, as well, according to the update.

The median sales price of $171,148 last month was 8 percent more than 2011, and the average price of $228,441 was 33.9 percent more than the same time last year. There were 35 closed sales last month, as compared to 30 in September 2011.

Other increases were reported in price per square foot ($105 last month, as compared to $83 a year ago) and percentage of the original list price received (97.1 percent, as compared to 91.5 percent).

The average days that a home stays the market dropped from 195 days in September 2011 to 74 days last month. In addition, months supply of inventory decreased from 4.9 months in September 2011 to 3.2 months last month.

So far this year, 280 home sales closed in Rosemount, as compared to 260 during the same period in 2011.

Click here to see Rosemount’s market update for September.

TWIN CITIES AS A WHOLE
The Twin Cities region as a whole is experiencing the closest thing it’s seen in a long while to a “boom market”—or it would be, at least, if more homeowners were willing to post a “For Sale” sign.

Andy Fazendin, president-elect of the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors, said the median sales price across the 13-county area in September was $174,000, up 12.3 percent from the same month a year ago. In addition, homes spent an average of 101 days on the market, selling 28.7 percent faster than last year at this time. Sellers received, on average, 94.8 percent of their list price, 4.1 percent more than in September 2011.

“Interest rates in the Twin Cities are around 3.4 percent and buyers have a justified sense of urgency," Fazendin said. “Housing has gone from a laggard the past few years to leading the charge in 2012."

The only missing ingredient, he said, is a supply of sellers. With prices now just beginning to recover from the awful declines of recent years, many homeowners may be holding out in hopes that the surge will continue.

As a result, the number of homes for sale in the area has dropped for 20 consecutive months and is now below 16,000 for the first time since December 2003, during the last boom market. Months' supply of inventory—a common figure describing how long it would theoretically take to sell every available home on the market—fell 40.9 percent to four months.

Figures below four months’ supply indicate a sellers' market, Fazendin said. He added that in September, sellers brought 5,341 properties to the market, 4.1 percent fewer than last year. 

Another advantage for sellers: They no longer have to compete with such a huge wave of cheap, “distressed” properties entering the market. 

Short sales and foreclosures, which tend to sell for about 27 percent less than comparable “for sale” properties sold the traditional way, made up only 30.6 percent of new listings in September 2012, the lowest percentage since June 2008, with the result that “there's finally some room to breathe for traditional sellers," said Cari Linn, MAAR’s president.

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