October a Strong Month for Local Real Estate Market

The number of Inver Grove Heights homes that have sold so far this year is up compared to the same time period in 2010, thanks in part to a significant increase in the number of closed sales in October.

In October, buyers snapped up 28 local homes—a roughly 87 percent increase over the 15 homes that sold last year in October, according to the latest Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors Local Market Update report.

Once a month, the association releases local and regional real estate statistics, which include the number of closed sales, average sale price of homes and other information. While the reports typically paint a grim picture of the local real estate market, this month's report is more optimistic.

So far this year, a total of 255 homes have sold in Inver Grove Heights, an 11.8 percent increase over the number of sold homes during the same period last year. While that is a marked improvement, the price per square foot and percentage of the original listing price the sellers received both continue to drop.

The average sales prices for homes in Inver Grove Heights also continues to fall. Sales prices dropped 7.5 percent so far this year, compared to the same period last year—from $203,414 in 2010 to $188,071.

October was also a strong month for closed sales in the Twin Cities region as a whole. According to data released by the association, there were 3,514 closed sales last month, a 32 percent increase over the same month last year.

The number of properties currently available in the Twin Cities area dropped to 21,145, a decline of more than 6,000 listings from this time last year. The drop in supply is due to a combination of weak seller activity and strong buyer activity, the association wrote in a press release.

"It's something of a fallacy to call this a buyer's market," President of the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors Brad Fisher wrote in a press release. "Good quality homes that are priced right are in short supply. Buyer demand exists, but we need more sellers in the game."