Despite plenty of weather-worn "For Sale" signs on Twin Cities-area lawns, the area isn't battling the same inventory problems that are facing several major metro areas. In fact, inventory levels might be a bit lower than they appear when you factor in the way agents are required to report the status of their listing, according to analysis by Aaron Dickinson, a sales agent for Edina Realty who often delves deep into the data. Here's his take on the market by the numbers:
23,851: Approximate number of homes for sale on the MLS in the Twin Cities.
2,956: Approximate number of homes marked as for sale that have an accepted offer subject to a contingency, and the seller is still accepting showings.
35 percent: Share of homes for sale listed as short sales that have accepted offers.
14 percent: Share of homes for sale listed as bank owned that have accepted offers.
5 percent: Share of homes for sale listed as traditional sales that have accepted offers.
Takeaways:
•Our effective inventory of homes for sale is about 12 percent lower than the numbers reported.
• One in three short sales listed for sale already have an offer – the majority of these are waiting for the seller's lender to approve the sale, a process that can take months.
•Since "active with offer" is not displayed on consumer web sites, consumers are sometimes frustrated to find out that the home they had an interest in already has an accepted offer. Because there are many details that go behind that information, buyers are encouraged to seek additional information from their agent before choosing to include or exclude houses with accepted contingent offers.
