Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Twin Cities - current metro single family housing sales info.

TC BizJournal reporting:

Pending Twin Cities home sales surge, May 12, 2015, 2:47pm CDT, by Sam Black, Senior reporter


Buyers wrote 6,329 purchase agreements for homes in the Twin Cities metro area in April, an increase of 26 percent from the same month in 2014 and the highest total for any month since June 2005.

“Climbing rents, consistent job growth and finally some beginning signs of wage growth are all encouraging Twin Citizens to invest in homeownership,” [ Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors]President Mike Hoffman said in a news release.

The number of new listings in the Twin Cities increased 10.7 percent to 8,613 during the month, the highest number since April 2010.

The median sales price climbed for the 38th consecutive month in the Twin Cities, increasing to $215,600, up 10.0 percent from the same time last year and up 2.6 percent from March 2015, when it was $210,000.

[links in original]

That term opening one of the report paragraphs, "climbing rents." is a reminder: Yesterday, driving past the Flaherty thing attached to the City Hall parking ramp in Ramsey Town Center, there was a vacancy sign outside at the office parking lot, west side of the building.

Flaherty's vacancy rate is quite low, but the sign clearly says occupancy is below 100%.

Don't wait. Rent now. By the tracks. Town taxpayer subsidized parking included.

Time is wasting, ...

OR: Wait for competition, Jim Deal's rental development at Town Center, north of Flaherty [further from the tracks], where the road contracting - site prep work is being done, this month.

Waiting offers the possibility of more bang for the buck, possibly larger units even if possibly fewer "amenities" (i.e., seller competition is a good market factor, for consumer-buyers; e.g., Town Center rents; and BizJ reporting of Cub Foods pricing, here).