Home Sales Are Up Big In Twin Cities

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - If you are looking to buy or sell a home in the Twin Cities, this may be your best opportunity in nearly a decade.

Experts say Twin Cities home buyers signed more than 6,300 purchase agreements in April. That's the most since the summer of 2005.

It's a huge turnaround considering home sales fell 7 percent last year.

Jeri Papke's realtor actually started getting requests for showings for her Minneapolis home, even before the house was on the market.

"He told us to be ready when it went on the market, to be ready that day," Papke said. "And he was right: We had a couple showings the very first day it went on the market."

Papke's house sold that weekend.

Thomas Flanery and his wife were looking to downsize from the home they had lived in for nearly 40 years.

"We wanted something with fewer stairs, lower taxes," Flanery said.

Within a week he had bought a home in Bloomington and sold his house in Minneapolis, even getting more than the asking price.

"We put it on the market on a Thursday, and I think Saturday it was settled," said Flanery.

So why has the housing market been so hot? Experts say there are a number of reasons, beginning with low mortgage rates.

A 30-year fixed rate is commonly below 4 percent right now.

"We are in a situation where interest rates aren't expected to go up for a while, so we aren't seeing people with interest rate jitters," Herb Tousley said.

Tousley is the director of real estate programs at the University of St. Thomas.

"I didn't quite see the magnitude coming," he said.

Tousley said March was a great month and April was even better.

He said as more jobs have become available, fewer foreclosed homes can be found.

Home prices have also increased, which Tousley said is good for buyers and sellers.

He said this is more like a normal housing market, and he looks for the sales streak to continue.

"It looks like there is a reasonable expectation that this will go on for a couple of months, likely until school starts in the fall," he said.

Twin Cities home sales have increased 25 percent over this time last year.

That holds true especially in the lower- to mid-priced housing market.

That's why Tousley said if you are planning on selling, be ready and have a plan.

He's seeing a lot of houses get multiple offers right away, with people offering more than the asking price in some cases.