What to Watch for:

This information was provided by The Greater Lakes Association of REALTORS

Despite cold weather and heavy snow, buyers in the Greater Lakes region were very active during February. There were 99 closed sales during the month, an increase of 23.8 percent from a year ago.
Home prices have shown early signs of stabilizing, but remain relatively soft. The February median sales price of $115,000 was a decrease from a year ago of 1.7 percent.
Soft prices have combined with extremely low mortgage rates to create an attractive environment for buyers. The Housing Affordability Index in February of 172 is an improvement of 4.7 percent from a year ago, and is up dramatically from the low point seen a few years back. This indicates favorable conditions for home buying. 

Click Here To View the Full February 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:

Weekly Market Activity Report

Warming weather, affordability and approaching deadlines are activating the housing market. With less than 60 days left until the home buyer tax credit expires, buyers and sellers appear to be kicking it into a new gear. There were 1,715 new listings for the week ending February 27, an increase of 5.3 percent from a year ago and the fourth consecutive week of year-over-year increase. The $6,500 tax credit for move-up buyers appears to be stimulating some sellers to place their homes on the market in an attempt to sell them before the credit expires.

For the same reporting week, there were 868 accepted offers, which is a bump of 13.9 percent from a year ago. After several months of relatively flat home buying, the last two weeks have seen a jump as the credit deadline nears.

Days on Market continues to decrease, landing at 142 days in February. That was a 9.7 percent decrease from a year ago.

The Percent of Original Price Received at Sale stood at 92.3 percent in February, a 3.4 percent increase over the year prior.

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