Home Sales Prices Increase Modestly For Lakeville in 2012 First Half

Across the region, the market is finally starting to tilt in favor of sellers, rather than buyers, the Minneapolis-Area Association of Realtors is reporting this month.

The bottom line: The median sales price in June 2012 rose 10.7 percent from the previous June to $179,500. That’s the second-largest annual gain since January 2004 and the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year gains. Excluding only June 2010, home prices in the Greater Twin Cities area are now at their highest level since October 2008.

In Lakeville it's a similar story. Median sales prices in town are up 6 percent to $243,750 in June from May, and 2012 overall, prices are up 5 percent.

Real estate indicators in Lakeville are looking better in 2012 across the board. In addition to median sale prices rising, closed sales are up 9 percent from 2011, to 409 for the year. Meanwhile new listings are down 4 percent, meaning there are fewer homes on the market, and the amount sellers are getting for homes is up to 95 percent of original asking price. The time homes are on the market in 2012 is even down 16 percent to just 121 days.

Regionally, and locally, the higher home prices are a result of declining supply, according to MAAR, as well as rising demand. In June 2012, across the Twin Cities, buyers signed 4,917 purchase agreements, 16 percent higher than June 2011. Meanwhile, the number of homes for sale has dropped for 17 consecutive months, down 31.2 percent from last year to 17,103 active listings—the lowest inventory reading for any month since January 2004.

Perhaps most significantly, people putting their homes on the market no longer have to compete with quite such a huge flood of short sales and foreclosures, collectively known as "distressed sales." In June, distressed sales accounted for 30.6 percent of all new listings and 34.6 percent of all closed sales, the lowest shares since June 2008 and August 2008, respectively.

“It’s difficult to find a negative trend in the local housing market right now,” Cari Linn, MAAR's president, said in a news release. “After many years of decline, it’s a welcome change of pace.”

follows the MAAR report quarterly.