Even though all this year's facts aren't in yet for the 13 county area of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, I find the comparison of real estate sales from 2000 which was the very beginning of our feeding frenzy to 2006 to be interestiing. The media and the associations are hyping that our sales (measured in $$$) are still in record numbers despite the current slow down. When sales are measured on dollar volume, that statement is true, but it is misleading the public and agents who don't bother to look at the numbers themselves.
The chart at left is showing the number of sales, not the dollar value of sales; the number of houses not their prices. It is comparing the first year in our sellers' market (2000) with our current year of buyers' market (2006). I found the number of sales this year to be similar to the first year of the feeding frenzy which spanned the last 5 years. By September, 2000, the total number of sales was 36,095, and by September of this year it was 37,812, only 1717 difference! The years sandwiched between showed continuous increases in number of sales with the record number of houses sold in Minnesota's Twin Cities' 13 county metro area being 58,233 in 2004. A gradual drop in number of closed transactions started the following year (2005) but made a huge shift back to 2000 levels as shown on the chart above.
In 2000 the average sales price of a closed home was $181,605 as compared to $262,522 last year. Median price rose from $152,000 to $228,900 last year. Dollar volume of sales almost doubled from $8,754,809,444 in 2000 to $15,610,890,354 in 2005. That's billions, not millions!
At the same time that sales were skyrocketing, the number of agents in the metro area (Minneapolis Areas Association of REALTORS and St. Paul Area Association of REALTORS) has nearly tripled to over 16,000 agents. Although sales are declining, the number of agents has not decreased in proportion to the number of sales. If I was a "bookie" the odds of sales per agent are not numbers I would want to place bets on.
Some find these numbers discouraging. For me it works just the opposite. These numbers affirm why I have had to work harder to generate business this last year. It confirms that I'm not doing something "wrong", it's just the shift in the market and to find buyers and listings, my marketing has to shift as well. The gravy train has left town folks, and some of those left behind are going to starve or have to find other ways to survive!
The number quoted above are based on information from the REGIONAL MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE OF MINNESOTA, INC for the period January 1, 2000, through September 30, 2006.
*It took me the better part of 2 hours to figure out how to get my excel chart to copy to Active Rain and then the colors didn't translate! I ask myself, was it even worth it?
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