Minneapolis Duplex Sales Round The Bases For Home

As the $8000 first time home buyer and $6500 repeat buyer tax credits round the bases for home,  the Twin Cities housing market appears to be staging a late inning rally.

For the week ending April 10, 2010, the number of new listings to hit the market was up 47.9 percent over the same week last year. In spite of this leap, there is still just 6.5 months of housing inventory in the marketplace; the lowest supply in years.

Pending sales were also ahead of last year, though the 3.6 percent jump wasn’t enough to seal a victory.

Meanwhile, the Twin Cities duplex market seems to need a seventh inning stretch.  The number of properties to receive purchase agreements for the week was down 39 percent from last year. Of those transactions, 32 percent belonged to traditional sellers, with the balance involving some sort of negotiations with a lender.

This slow re-emergence of the traditional seller has served to boost the average price a property leaves active status on the MLS at. For the week, this figure was $106,489; a grand slam when compared with last year’s $80,873.

While excess supply can often lead to falling prices, the week’s  23 percent year-over-year gain was as welcome as a seventh inning stretch. Much of the existing inventory had been sitting for a while, and the appearance of great new listings gave duplex buyers in search of a tax credit something to cheer.

Remember, the deadline for both tax credits is April 30. By then, buyers must have a signed purchase agreement in place, with closing on the property occuring no later than the end of June.