What to Watch for:

This information was provided by The Greater Lakes Association of REALTORS

Home sales in the Greater Lakes region in January were once again up compared to a year ago at 93 closed sales, an increase of 34.8 percent from a year ago. That's the fifth consecutive month where the change compared to a year ago has been positive.

The increase in sales has led to stabilizing home prices. January's median sales price of $124,405 was 1.4 percent higher than a year ago. Yes, rising prices are ordinarily a pretty ho-hum and normal thing, but in light of the drop in prices that most parts of the country have seen over the last several years, "ho-hum" is a welcome phrase these days.

The Months Supply of Inventory in the region has decreased in the last year to 17.3, down 7.8 percent from the mark of 18.7 seen a year ago. That's still a very high mark, which means sellers still face challenging conditions that require smart pricing and marketing.

Click Here To View the Full January Real Estate Review

The Gallery of Homes is a member of both the Greater Lakes Association of REALTORS and the Minneapolis Association of REALTORS which provides the Northstar MLS system serving the twin cities area which is the 5^th largest MLS system in the country. As a member of this association, we receive a real estate review for this market as well. Because the twin cities real estate market does have a direct impact on our local real estate market, I thought I would share the latest report we received from them:

The January 2010 Twin Cities housing market has shaped up to be nearly identical to January 2009.

• Pending sales are down slightly from a year ago, but not by much.
• New listings are down slightly from a year ago, but not much.
• Inventory is rising slowly, but not much.

After the roller coaster ride the local market has experienced over the last four years, perhaps "not by much" is a welcome respite.

• There were 558 signed purchase agreements for the week ending January 23, down 2.3 percent from a year ago.
• New listings posted 1,522 units, down 0.6 percent from a year ago.
• The current inventory of active listings is 20,629, down 17.5 percent from a year ago.

The February 2010 Supply-Demand Ratio sits at 6.99, which means there are 6.99 homes available for each buyer. That's a drop of 8.5 percent from a year ago and the lowest February mark since 2006.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions

Dan Pflugshaupt

REALTOR, GRI, e-PRO

218-839-7700

Dan@GalleryofHomesMN.com

Specializing in North Central Minnesota Lakeshore & Recreational Property