Spring into March Madness: Real Estate Style
March greeted us Minnesota folks with quite the winter storm this past week, but we know that we are almost through it. Spring is just around the corner, only days away! If you've been paying attention to our last few posts, you know that the market has been gearing up for this. The Spring market is always crazy and March is the month to get ready for it!
While it is quite common that the warmer months in Minnesota are just busier in general, there are definitely spikes where we see new listings (homes on the market) or pending sales.
According to our local Multiple Listing Service, NorthstarMLS, March of 2016 in the Twin Cities was one of the top months for new listings of the year at 78,734. It's no surprise that March and April saw over 59,000 pending sales each with this high number of new listings. In March of 2017 the new listing count was at 77,620. Pending sales in March of last year also went up to 61,227. We love seeing those pending sales go up!
You may be wondering what these numbers mean to you if you're thinking about buying or selling. Here are some key things to keep in mind:
If you own a home and might want to sell: We are seeing a shortage of homes on the market for potential buyers. As you can see in the data above, the new listing count went down over the course of a year. It may not seem like that much from that number, however, if you look at the most recent numbers it is. NorthstarMLS shows that in February of this year we were at 75,378 new listings and only have 2.2 months supply of homes.
This is great if you are thinking of selling! Less inventory on the market means that more buyers are likely to see your home. Sellers also appear to be getting more money out of the sale with the median price per square foot in February of this year at $133 as opposed to a year ago at $124 per square foot.
If you're curious as to what your home may be worth right now - reach out to your real estate agent to help you out! They can look at recent sales for homes similar to yours to give you an estimated market value on your home. You can also use our home valuation tool from our website: What's My Home Worth.
If you're thinking about buying: It's always fun and exciting when you're buying a home! You will want to be prepared to be competitive with your offer and know exactly what you are looking for in a home. In one of our previous posts, we talk about what you should think about when buying so you are prepared for the search. Know ahead of time that you may end up in a multiple offer situation, but do not let that discourage you! If you don't even write the offer, you really don't have a chance at getting it.
As always, we recommend setting up a meeting with a lender to fully understand the mortgage process and to be completely pre-approved. This may help with the buying process when you submit an offer and you will have a much better understand of what is to come financially.
Buying a home in Spring is a wonderful time because you have a better likelihood of having warmer weather for your move! It'll give you an opportunity to be outside in your new home right away as well!
Do you have more questions about buying or selling this year? Are you ready to dive in? Let us know, we can help!